My Beautiful Monster
by dickard23
Summary: Beauty is only skin deep. Inside can be horrifying. Ursa called her daughter a monster. Azula feared she was right. Years later, the war is over, and Azula has been invited to join a terrorist group looking to oust her brother. Who is she on the inside? Will she save the day or will the lust for power be too strong and unleash her inner monster? Will she side with Zuko or Ozai?
1. Prologue

**Prologue**

In the months that followed Sozin's Comet, Azula was diagnosed with posttraumatic stress disorder brought on by childhood violence and aggravated by her war training and her eventual fighting in the war.

Wanting his sister to recover and perhaps feeling guilty that he had no idea her childhood had been so horrific, Zuko had put her removed from the asylum and put in Lo and Li's custody where she was rehabilitated on Ember Island. There was a section of the island reserved for nobles, so Azula would not have to deal with the general public.

Instead of training her for the politics of war and how to be a lethal honey trap if need be, Zuko had Lo and Li try to teach his sister how to be normal, as best they could.

* * *

After a year, they said they had done their job and Azula was ready to return home. Zuko came to visit his sister, and even he acknowledged that she seemed more docile than he had ever remembered her to be. She wasn't, however, jumping for joy.

She knew that she was still on probation and if she messed up, she would be sent straight to jail where she would face prosecution for war crimes, even though Mai and Ty Lee had already been pardoned for many of the same crimes and of course Zuko faced no criminal charges at all.

"How long will I be on probation?" she asked dryly.

That was a good question one, which Zuko had not decided yet. It seemed untenable to say forever, but it had to be enough time such that he could say she had changed. Right now, she was 16. Her probation started a little over a year ago. "Four years," he finally answered. "If you make it to your 20th birthday without giving me a reason to arrest you, then you're in the clear." Five years seemed like an acceptable amount of time to give her to change. He had only needed three, well maybe three and a half, but Azula had always a bit of a mean streak to her. She would have to learn how to control it.

"Fine," she said as if she had any choice in the matter. She knew she had no way of negotiating him down to 18, and even if she could, would it have made any difference. If she could stay out of trouble for two more years, then she could stay out of trouble for four more years.

"Pack your bags. You will be returning to the palace next week."

Azula should be looking forward to going home, but she wasn't. When she left, she was the Crown Princess, moments from being Fire Lord before she broke down. Now, she had nowhere to go. She would only be Crown Princess until Zuko married and produced an heir.

She had started off as a long shot for the crown. She had five people in her way and then it was in her grasp. She cursed her pathetic mind for breaking when she needed it most. She wondered what she would do when she turned 20.

Would she make an effigy of her brother and burn it in the public square? Would she show up to that water wench's home and melt it while she was away, leaving her a puddle to live in? Azula didn't know what her 20th birthday would have in store for her, but she hoped it would be good. It would need to be five years worth of good.


	2. The Invitation

**April 102AG**

Azula had been home for four months. The Kyoshi Warriors live here now. They are Zuko's protective detail since he had almost been killed a couple of times after the war ended. Azula avoided them at all costs. She saw no reason to interact with the help. She never had before.

"It wouldn't kill you to be nice to them," Ty Lee told her.

"Why would I be nice to the help? They aren't here for pleasantries. They're here for a salary, one that Zuko pays them. I owe them nothing."

Ty Lee rolled her eyes. "I know you were nicer to your servants than you let on."

"Lies!"

"So it was a coincidence that you always let your personal servants take the day off when it was their children's birthday or that somehow there was always extra food made for the feasts that they could bring home?"

"How do you even know about that?" Azula never talked about any concessions she made. Concessions are for weaklings.

"They complained to Zuko when he failed to do the same." He didn't even realize that they did anything for the help. He never thought about how the palace ran before he became Fire Lord. It just ran.

"Let me guess, Zuzu didn't know how to schedule their vacation days or handle their rotations."

"I don't think he realized how integral you are in making this place run."

"If I'm so important, why am I still on probation?"

"You know why."

"I didn't kill anyone (technically). He burnt down a village and kidnapped the avatar. I don't even know how many people Iroh killed with his incompetence, somewhere in the hundreds."

"They changed, and you can too."

"That sounds so cheesy it makes me want to puke."

"What do I know? I'm just the help."

"That's right. Can you get me some dim sum?"

"I'm not a waitress. I'm a security guard."

"Then guard the dim sum!"

Ty Lee shrugged. "I do need to get back to work. Suki will be mad if she learns I'm here."

"Why because you might have a friend that doesn't dress like a geisha on drugs?"

"You really don't care about cultural sensitivity do you?"

"What?" I don't even know what that is.

"The world has changed. We're all more appreciative of each other's culture now."

"But our culture was built on waging war and taking stuff. They weren't very appreciative."

"Good bye Azula!"

"I was serious about that dim sum!"

Azula ended up ringing the bell and ordering her own. When it arrived, however, it had a note in it.

* * *

Dear Princess Azula,

I am sending you this note in secret because I needed to make sure that Zuko didn't see it. I assume he screens your mail. I wanted to inform you that there is an underground organization called the Defenders of Sozin. Its goal, as I'm sure you can guess, is to depose Zuko and replace him with a superior member of your bloodline. You are the first candidate although some members of our group are concerned about your mental stability. They would prefer your father, but unless he can get his bending back, he is ineligible for the throne.

I am writing without authorization of the group because I do not know if I can trust the leader. I am sure he has his own ambitions that he keeps secret from us, and he would sacrifice anyone else to get his way. I am telling you all of this because my loyalty is with you Princess. If you wish to join, I will recruit you. If you wish to bring them down, I will support you. All I ask is that if you can make it possible, see to it that I survive and ideally don't go to jail. My father is also in the organization and I would rather he survive too, but if one of us has to go to jail, it should certainly be him.

I await your instruction. If you leave me a letter where you received this one, then it will make its way to me, but it will be a few days as we are not using the mail system.

Best wishes,

A Friend

* * *

Azula decided to analyze the letter step by step. He (presumably a he) says that he is a member of this group but he would betray them if I wished it. He wants to save his father but not the expense of himself. He says he is loyal to me, but his loyalty is more than questionable. Do I trust him? No. Do I want to know more? Yes.

* * *

Dear Friend,

Thank you for informing me. I must say that I would like to know more before I decide what to do. Are you high enough up such that you can answer all of my questions? If you are not, then I suggest you find me someone who is. I always make my moves carefully with an endgame in sight. I will not join any group sight unseen.

Best,

Azula

* * *

She put the letter right where the first one had been and rang the bell, so the servant would take it away. Was she involved? Was it the cook?

"How was your meal?"

"Excellent," Azula said. "That will be all."

"Of course Princess."

The Princess had no one to trust with this information. Who knew where Lo and Li's loyalties really lied. They say they are with her, but after her treatment of them on Sozin's Comet, how can you really know? They were the only two who never left her, even after she banished them. If she could trust anyone, it would be the twins, but that was a big if. For now, she hid the letter in a secret compartment, one only she knew of, one that she had made when she first got the room.

She had to pretend all was normal and she did when she got to dinner.

"How was your dim sum?" Ty Lee questioned. Surely, she didn't know about the letter. She must just be talking.

"It was good."

"I thought dim sum was for a social occasion," Suki interjected, as if anyone had asked her.

"It often is, but sometimes it's nice to have tea and dumplings without mindless chit chat, emphasis on the world mindless."

Suki grunted.

Zuko shook her head. "I should have put a niceness condition on your probation."

"You should have, but you didn't. Maybe next time?"

"What do you do all day?" Suki questioned.

"I sit around thinking of things I could do to make Zuko really mad on my 20th birthday."

"I wish she were only kidding," Zuko grumbled. "I bet she'll start a wildfire the day her probation ends."

"Oh that would be reckless," Azula said. "I meant something less environmentally harmful like turning your conference room into an opium den during the World Summit"

Zuko choked on his food.

Mai hit him in the chest, dislodging it for him.

"I bet Kuei would like you more if you did that," Ty Lee added.

Everyone stared at her.

"What? Does he not give off the vibe, druggie who sleeps with concubine to you?"

"That's the vibe of every Fire Lord in history. Azulon kept going until he croaked and he was 95!"

"EW!" Mai complained. "I don't want to think about that."

"Sozin was known for taking in female slaves from the colonies he conquered. He had a harem, somewhat like Avatar Kyoshi. Did you know the original Kyoshi warriors were her whores?"

"AZULA!" Zuko snapped.

Unfortunately, she was correct. "The things you learn when you read a history book. Anyway, the first woman to get knocked up, Sozin married, hence Azulon became the Fire Lord instead of his who knows how many bastards. Azulon had bastards as well. Rumor has it grandma had them murdered so they couldn't challenge her children for the throne."

"I'm going to ban you from the dinner table," Zuko threatened.

"Didn't my doctor say we should spend more family time together?"

"I should pull his license for suggesting anything of the sort."

"That's too bad. I was going to suggest we go to the 25th anniversary of the fire whiskey house in Capital City next week."

"Together?"

"Yes."

"That sounds like fun." He was confused.

"That was the point."

"What are you angling for?" he demanded to know

"Nothing."

"I don't believe you."

"You won't find out unless you go."

"I hate you."

"I love you too Zuzu."

"DON'T CALL ME THAT!"

"Yes my Lord," she said mockingly

"Don't call me that either!"

"How about brother dearest?"

Zuko could get through terse political meetings. He even almost went to war with Kuei over Yu Dao, but somehow, he always lost his temper with Azula and found himself on the losing side of a screaming match.

Luckily dessert came and he could just ignore her question to stuff his face.

* * *

Azula annoyed everyone in the table on purpose. When they were annoyed with her, they ignored her, which meant they would not pay close attention to her movements over the next couple of days. They were very easy to play, like pieces on a pai sho board.

It was a week later when she finally got a response back. Like her other note, it arrived on a lunch tray.

* * *

Dear Princess,

Unfortunately, I do not know everything there is to know about the organization, but I can tell you this much. There are formidable fighters who have joined the group. I'm sure you know of the Yuyan archers and the Rough Rhinos. They are both working for the Defenders of Sozin on a commission. I also know that some of these members lost family members on Sozin's Comet, so their motivation is more personal than financial. They just want Zuko (and presumably Iroh) to die.

Of course, the skill of the fighters is not everything. If you wish to know more about the politics, I can ask a higher member to speak with you under the guise of recruitment of course, but I do not command him. The meeting will have to be in a location of his choosing; I am sure he will not compromise on that. I return the ball to your court.

Friend

* * *

Azula was intrigued. If they are paying both groups, then they must have a lot of money to burn. There must be some high level nobles sponsoring this, maybe even some who publicly support Zuko. Azula knew it was risky but she had to meet with them.

* * *

Dear Friend,

If you can arrange this meeting, I would find it most helpful. Hopefully, the location is one that is away from the public eye as I would not want to be seen dabbling in this type of affair by too many people.

I will await your response.

Princess

* * *

Azula had the letter sent away before she had to get ready for her drinking tour with Zuko. She looked in her mirror. She had not had any serious combat training since the war ended and it showed. Her once chiseled stomach was only flat. Her strong shoulders were smaller as were her arms. Her hips and chest were bigger. She looked more like a woman and less like a warrior. That might be good for courting but it was not good for walking into the dragon's den.

She would have to start training soon, but she must train in secret. If Zuko knew she was training again, he would want to know why. She would need to find somewhere she could go where he wouldn't find her.

Two hours later, she took a carriage with Zuko to Capital City.

"Why a whiskey tour?" he asked her.

"They talk. We only have to listen and drink." Really, they only have to drink. They won't be tested on the material.

He nodded. It made sense.

They got there and the line was going around the block. The royals were escorted into the building, which was decorated in red black and gold, the Fire Nation's colors of course.

"My Lord, Princess, welcome." The tour guide quickly got them samples of their newest offering, Fire Whiskey Blue. It came in a blue bottle and was an ode to Azula's blue flame. There was a flame outline on the front.

Most of the tour groups had 20 people each, but this tour was just them and their guards, who couldn't drink on the job.

They learned of the nation's history of Fire Whiskey and how this distillery opened up 25 years ago to offer a more refined product as the nobles wanted to set themselves apart from the commoners who would drink any kind of swill.

"Your grandfather was here on our opening day."

Azulon had been an avid whiskey drinker. He liked it almost as much as he liked his whores.

"We gave him our first bottle." The guide presented them with one just like it. "This is from the same batch." He gave the bottle to Zuko.

They continued their tour through of the building, seeing where the mash was made and how it was fermented. They got to try every type of whisky there, which were 12 in all.

They were quite drunk at the end.

"We hope you enjoyed our tour and you will love our 25th anniversary."

Azula and Zuko managed to spend an hour together without fighting or plotting someone's demise. It might have been a record for the siblings.

"I want food," Zuko told her.

"There's an all you can eat steakhouse down the street."

"No one told me!" Zuko wanted some.

They went with their guards at their sides where they got a table. Tall men brought giant skewers of meat around. You told them the doneness and they cut it for you on the spot.

Not much in the mood for talking, they ate and they ate until they could no longer eat.

"You know, when it's just you, you aren't that bad," Zuko told her.

"Thanks, I think."

"Why can't you be that way at the palace?"

"Why should I be? They want someone to fear, someone to blame for all of the bad things that happened to them during the war. If I'm the bad guy, they get to be the good guys. They'll never see me differently. Why should I treat them differently?"

Zuko frowned, but he did not respond.

He was, however, still drunk when he got home.

"Did I ever tell you that you have a great ass?" he said to Mai when he saw her next.

"How drunk are you?"

"It's all firm," he gave her a good squeeze.

"Time for you to go to bed."

"Aw yeah!"

**May 102AG**

After three weeks, Azula doubted if she would get a response from her so-called friend.

She was drinking some of the whiskey they had gotten from the tour when she ordered some steam buns. When they got to her, there was a letter alongside them.

* * *

Dear Princess,

Sorry about the delay, but it took some time to arrange a secret location for you to meet a higher up. If you can make it this Sunday, we can arrange for you to be taken to him. Of course, you will need to go alone, preferably in garb that would make it hard to identify you from afar.

A Friend

* * *

Not seeing much choice, Azula went along with the offer and quickly got a response telling her to be at the Great Gates of Azulon at 12PM.

"Now that's not suspicious."

Azula had started running. It was a way of getting in shape and justifying leaving the palace grounds. She would need to be able to do more than just run, but she knew it would improve her lungs, which was essential for firebending. She told her brother she was going on a long run on Sunday and would not be available for the early afternoon.

"Will you be back by dinner?"

"Yes."

She ran out with a backpack so she could put a cloak in it and made her way to the dock.

"I need to get to the Gates!"

She paid the boatman for the trip and waited. She had 15 minutes until noon.

It was about 20 minutes when a balloon landed.

Azula didn't ask his name and he didn't speak hers. She got in the balloon and they headed northwest.

Soon, it was quite clear where they were going. Azula was at Boiling Rock.

Instead of signing in like she normally would have to, she followed the man down a series of corridors until she reached a cell at the far end. He opened the cell and disappeared. How he had a key, Azula had no idea?

"I must say this is a surprise." Azula hadn't seen him in almost two years. His hair was still long, and he was still formidable looking, but his skin was pale. It's like she could see his damaged chi from the outside.

"I'm glad you came." Glad. It's not a word Ozai often used.

She sat across from him, no hug or any type of familial greeting. She doubted they had time for that fluffy crap. "What is your plan?"

"I'll explain it another time. Does Zuko know you came here?"

"No."

"Does he know anything?"

"No."

"Then let me tell you this. I'm going to escape within 48 hours. It doesn't matter what Zuko does to try and stop me he will lose. Even if he can get the avatar here, he will still lose. You can tell him if you want to. It won't make any difference."

If Azula told Zuko and he got away anyway, he'd blame her. If she didn't tell him and Ozai got away, Zuko would want to know if she knew.

"Are you sure Zuko can't stop you?"

"Oh yes, but that's not really the important part. Don't tell Zuko I'm talking to you. Tell him whatever information you want, but stay silent on who gave it to you. You need a trump card in this game and that's the only one you're going to get."

"What game are we playing?"

"You'll see. Make sure you're in top shape."

That was all they had time for. The Warden would be back from his lunch break soon.

Azula knew the group would try to recruit her father. She didn't know that he was already involved in the planning, and that he would have his own side scheme. On the way home, Azula considered her information. She had a nameless informant who was working with his father who did not trust the leader but apparently trusted Ozai more.

Either he's an idiot or this leader is very suspicious. She has Ozai, who's presumably not the leader, but has his own influence in how this all turns out. Would he try to make her his puppet lord after getting rid of Zuko? Would he turn on both of his children?

Azula didn't know if she could trust her father at all, but she did know that she had to be the one to judge his fate, not Zuko. He was too biased.

When she got to the palace, she sought out her brother right away. "We need to talk."

"He's in a meeting," Suki told him.

"Don't care, this is a state of emergency and if he finds out you held me up, I guarantee you that you'll be unemployed by the end of the day."

"You can't decide that," she snapped.

"He can and he will, now get him out here before I burn down the door. I've done it before."

Reluctantly, Suki went to get him. "You're sister's demanding your presence and she said she'd burn down the door if you didn't come out."

"Of course she said that."

Zuko stepped out. "What was so important that it couldn't …"

"Ozai is planning to escape Boiling Rock. You have maybe 44 hours, probably less."

Zuko screamed. His face turned a shade of red Azula hadn't seen in years.

"In my study now." Zuko ended his meeting early. "I must apologize, there's a state emergency right now. He kicked out everyone except for Suki and Mai.

"What do you know and how did you learn it?"

"I received a letter when I got my dim sum that informed me that there was a rebel organization plotting your ouster. I wasn't sure if this was a serious threat or just some ticked off generals who were no longer getting bonuses for terrorizing villagers. The letter was nameless, and I had no corroborating evidence.

This afternoon, however, I met face to face with another informant who told me that they were breaking Ozai out, and it didn't matter whether or not I told you, there was nothing you, the Avatar or anyone else could do about it. Ozai was as good as gone."

"And who are these people?" Mai questioned.

"They call themselves the Defenders of Sozin. Allegedly, they are a combination of mercenary groups and angry relatives of people who died during Sozin's Comet. I don't know who their leader is. I wasn't told anything about him except my informant doesn't trust him, which is why he wrote to me asking for amnesty in exchange for information."

"Why not write to Zuko?" Suki questioned, not believing Azula for a second.

"Zuko might arrest him anyway and his father. Maybe he thought Zuko would attack the group immediately and he'd be killed for betraying them. He had a choice and he chose to take a chance on me rather than Zuko. I can't tell you his thought process. I still don't know his name."

"So for all you know, the first informant and the second informant are the same person?" Zuko questioned.

"It's possible, but I don't think so. I don't think the first person was lying to me. I don't trust him obviously, but his description of himself doesn't match who I met today."

"And who did you meet today?" Zuko wanted to know.

"A man who wishes to remain anonymous for obvious reasons."

"I don't care what he wants. Tell me who he is."

"I can't do that."

"Can't or won't?"

"It might be the same to you, but it's not to me. The informant doesn't trust you. Trust me on that. He'll deny everything, and it's not like I have proof that he told me anything at all. You'll be left with nothing but your own frustrations."

"You want to stay in the game," Mai told her.

"There's also that. I know you don't trust me. You don't really have a reason to, but you need me Zuko. You need someone to infiltrate the Defenders of Sozin, and who better than me. You obviously can't do it and neither can your friends. They're too recognizable, and no one will believe that any of them would want to harm you or dethrone you. I'm believable. Perhaps too believable for your comfort, but what choice do you really have?"

Zuko growled.

"You aren't thinking about doing this," Suki insisted.

"Let's just wait and see. If the breakout fails, then they're not as strong as they think they are and maybe you can track them down and thump them on your own, but I think you'll find that they've already infiltrated the palace, the government and possibly your reformed military. If they can take Ozai despite your best efforts, then you're outmatched. It's that simple."

"They won't get him."

"That's between you and daddy dearest. I'm sitting this one out."

Azula retreated to her chambers.

Zuko immediately dispatched additional guards to the prison. "I will have to prepare a special holding cell for him. "If Azula's right, then this group has already infiltrated Boiling Rock."

"What if it's the whole plot?" Suki questioned. "They could have had Azula tell you, so they could grab him when you try to move Ozai."

She had a point. No matter what he did, he was in trouble. "I need the Avatar, NOW!"

* * *

They sent a messenger hawk, which he received in about 5 hours. Luckily, he had been at home. He, Katara and Sokka came straight to the palace where Zuko informed them of his meeting with his sister.

"So you only have Azula's word that anything's going to happen?"

"She might be twisted, but she's not stupid. She wouldn't tell me about an ambush unless there's an ambush. The question is, did she tell me to help me or did she tell me so I would go into emergency mode and she could try to exploit any mistake?"

"You don't know whether or not to switch to your back up plan?" Sokka asked.

"Exactly!"

"Make up a new one," Aang said. "Don't use anything that you've told anyone about yet."

Zuko nodded. They had surveillance on the prison. Aang watched from the Sun Warriors' Temple, but there were no signs of any activity.

Sokka and Katara had a boat nearby.

The warriors would help them with the shifts, but it was 40 hours after Azula said they had 44 hours and nothing happened.

"Maybe they just suck," Sokka said.

"Maybe they saw Aang and they backed down," Suki offered.

Aang was on Appa, watching the prison carefully. He was tired, but he knew he only had a few more hours before the 48 hours was up.

He saw a craft flying towards the prison. He followed it to see who it was.

It was only the warden. "I'm just starting my shift," he told the Avatar as he went into the prison.

It was three hours to go. Aang went back to watching from the top.

Katara and Sokka got there at about 10:30.

"Only 90 minutes more to go," Sokka said excitedly. He had his sword and his boomerang, ready to take action."

Katara hoped that these idiots just gave up. The war is over. Accept it!

It was about 20 minutes to spare when someone shouted. "The guards, they're dropping like flies."

Five guards passed out in mere seconds of each other. No one knew why. Suddenly a wave of prisoners bolted from their cells, forming a stampede that overtook the remaining guards. Aang saw the chaos and came forward.

Katara and Sokka began to fight, driving the prisoners back into their cells.

"How did they get out?" Katara questioned.

"It must have been a metalbender," he said when he saw the bars.

One of the guards was bloodied up. "He needs a hospital," Sokka said. The poor man had been trampled.

They quickly sent him out on the prison's medical balloon. It wasn't until they got to the end of the row when they saw a guard in Ozai's cell.

"FUCK!" Sokka screamed. The injured guard they let out was Ozai. They had switched his clothes, making it look like he had been battered when it was really this guard.

With like 2 minutes to spare, Ozai had escaped Boiling Rock with the world's three most noted heroes right there.

They reported to Zuko. His scream signified to the whole palace that something was very wrong.

Azula knew he had failed. She knew he needed her now. Instead of going down to gloat, she waited for him to send for her. It had only taken him 20 minutes.

"I guess I need you after all," he said as he brought her into the room.

Team Avatar was furious.

"You can't be serious," Sokka told him. "She'll only help Ozai." Katara and Aang agreed.

"Well your plan didn't work. You're the one who sent Ozai in the balloon where he escaped!"

"He couldn't have known," Katara insisted.

"It doesn't matter whether or not he should have known that the guard was really Ozai," Mai said. "What matters is Ozai's gone and we don't know where he is or who he's working with. The person who knows the most about this situation is right there," she pointed at Azula. "Whether or not we like it, we don't have anything without her, so unless any of you can come up with a plan, like yesterday, our hands are tied."

"Can we at least get Toph here?" Sokka questioned.

"We already wrote to her, but she is blind," Mai pointed out. "Who knows when she'll get someone to read the letter to her."

"She's not the best with correspondence," Suki admitted.

* * *

She actually did show up two days later. "So let me get this straight. Your sister told you that the Loser Lord was gonna get out. You got everyone but me to help you guard him. He got out anyway, and now after you don goofed, you decided to tell me what's going on? Y'all suck!"

Azula laughed. "She's funny!"

No one else laughed.

"We sent letters to everyone," Suki told her. "They were just closer."

"Well, no use crying over spilled milk fan girl. So, Princess Zappy, what do you know about this situation?"

Azula explained how she found out about the organization.

"So if they weren't using the mail, then someone in the palace must work for these people?"

"Or he is close enough to the informant that he passed on the letters without asking questions, but either way the messenger has questionable allegiance."

"And after getting these letters, you arranged to meet with a guy who said Ozai's busting out, try to stop him."

"Yeah."

"And while they tried to stop him, what did you do?"

"Nothing."

"Why not?"

"They thought I was helping him. If I helped guard him and he got away, they'd just blame me. Now they can't which is why Fan Girl is so mad."

"SHUT UP!" Suki snarled.

"I'm going to ask you once, did you have anything to do with Ozai's escape or helping him avoid recapture?"

"No."

Toph frowned.

"You don't believe me."

"No I do believe you. That's why I'm frowning. It would be a lot easier to just blame this on you."


	3. The Plan

Zuko put up a barricade, but Azula didn't think Ozai had left the country anyway and assumed it was a waste of resources.

"I think he's in a bunker, likely underground and he probably moves every two or three days," Azula said. "Most people live near the water here. It would be easy to hide out if you go inland."

While everyone else looked for Ozai, Azula stayed home and trained. She hired ex-military men, the kind Zuko didn't want in his new military to train her. They wouldn't go easy on her. They'd make sure she was hitting harder than ever.

The Princess used to train for six hours a day, every day. Now she found 2 hours a day exhausting. She would work her way back up to six. She would become a dragon.

"Why aren't you helping?" Mai questioned when Azula came back from practice.

"I'm the only one doing anything useful. Everyone else thinks they can just pick him up and take him back. He knew what he was doing when he got out. You don't think he would have figured out how to evade detection for months if not years. He won't come out until he feels like it. The best thing to do would be to train to beat him and whatever army he has, not participating in a futile chase."

Mai thought she had a point. "He still might mess up."

"He might, but I doubt it. He had a lot of time to think about this. It's been almost two years."

"You think he's been plotting from the very beginning?"

"Someone has been. Whether it was him or the people who got him out it's irrelevant."

They couldn't prove that the beat up guard had anything to do with it and the medical team was found tied up in the cafeteria. No one knows who actually broke Ozai out of the jail. They had no suspects really.

Mai started throwing her knives again. She didn't like the idea of Azula being in war shape and no one else being there.

**June 102AG**

It had been two years since Azula conquered Ba Sing Se and killed the Avatar. Two years since Katara saved him with spirit water, and Yue guided him back to life. Aang didn't think that he would be sitting on a hill, watching Azula train. Her ability to focus was amazing. She didn't flinch or blink no matter how close she was to danger. She didn't even look tired for the first hour she was out there.

"You can't get in shape by watching her train," Toph teased.

"I know, but I can't believe how skilled she is."

"She killed you."

"Thanks for reminding me. I had forgotten."

"I'm just staying she must have been training from an early age. Sparky can't even throw lightening."

"Still?"

"Still."

He couldn't clear his head enough. He had too many thoughts in there.

"I wonder why her flame is blue," Aang said to Toph.

"I can't see blue, but I know it's hot."

The Avatar asked Zuko about his sister later that day. "Do you know how she got a blue flame?"

Zuko shrugged. "She had the first one in over 100 years."

"Was it always blue?"

"I don't think so, but I don't really remember. Why?"

"I saw her training today. I wonder how she got so militant."

"She's always been that way," Zuko said. "Even as a child."

"Children aren't born that way," Aang told him. "They're made to be that way."

"I guess Ozai made her that way then. Once he started training Azula, he stopped paying attention to me, so I can't really say what happened back then. I don't know how she got to be so single tracked when it came to her firebending. It's like there's nothing else in her world."

Aang wondered how they could trust someone who looked like she had been built to destroy. Even after her therapy and rehabilitation, she looked like a monster, a very beautiful monster, but that only made her more dangerous.

They made no progress in finding Ozai. Azula was right. He never left the country. Their barricade only cost them financially.

* * *

Over the weeks, she got quicker and stronger. Her flame seemed to burn even hotter than before. Her range was even better.

"I think she's better than she was two years ago," Aang said to Katara as they watched her from outside.

"That's not a good thing."

"I don't know if she knows anything else. I'd like to think everyone can change, but I wonder if Ozai took the humanity she had and crushed it like a fly."

Katara wondered if she had been born with any at all. "Maybe she was just born soulless."

"I don't think so. Her flames come from anger. I can see it her eyes. She must have something to be angry about."

"Well we did cost her the throne."

"We did, but there's something more. Zuko doesn't even really know what her childhood was like. He said that Ozai would focus on only her. I can't imagine anything good came out of being raised by him."

Four weeks after Ozai's escape, Azula got another letter. It had a place and a time for her to meet. It was a sandwich shop in the center of town.

She knew it would not be the final meeting place, so she wore comfortable clothes in case she had to hike.

She took a carriage to the center of town.

"Where is she going?" Suki asked as she left.

"She didn't say," Mai told her. "She only said she had a lunch date."

"Who would date her?" Sokka retorted as he came up from behind Suki.

"I assume she meant it was about the rebels," Mai told him.

"And we have to trust what she says when she comes back," Suki rolled her eyes.

"We don't have to trust anything. We could ignore everything she tells us, but she hasn't been wrong from the start. I don't know if that's to build a false sense of trust that she plans on breaking or if she's actually trying to help, but we won't know either way unless we actually listen to what she has to say."

Mai left them with that thought and went to find Zuko.

"You don't think she's actually on our side," Suki asked Sokka.

"I think she's on her own side. It could coincide with ours for a while, but eventually, there will be a divergence. We just have to find it or perhaps make it first."

Azula was brought a sandwich she didn't order. She was hungry so she ate it and under the plate was a note about where to go next. She went north until she was out of the capital city and then west. Just like she thought, she was inland. She got another note on a tree and two more after that before she found him.

"I take it your brother decided to let you in."

"Well after you embarrassed Aang and his friends, he saw no choice."

"We have a couple of hours. Let's talk."

Ozai started to explain. "It was only three months after the war ended when I heard there were people on my side. They said they would do more than just send some puny assassins. They would wait until they had what it took to take out Zuko and anyone who tried to help him.

I figured I had to join them. If I had refused, then they would have killed me to keep their plan quiet."

"Why would you refuse?"

"I don't think they really want to put me or you on the throne. I mean the people in the group, many of them would be okay with that, but I think the minority that leads the group actually wants to make their leader the new Fire Lord. They want to kill our bloodline and replace us. Instead of balking, I joined and I waited until I had a chance to bring you in."

"You told the first informant to write to me."

"I did. He's someone you know, but I don't think you would have figured it out on your own. I'll give you a hint. His father is an Admiral."

"Chan?"

"Yes. His father made him join. He may be stupid, but he's not so stupid that he couldn't see that this is going to get ugly. A lot of people will die. If we don't play our cards right, we will die. Even if we play them right, we still might die, but if we don't take a stand now, there won't be a line of Sozin ever again. Zuko is too soft. He won't be able to protect the family. It has to be you."

Azula knew a liar a km away. Ozai sounded genuine. This was terrifying. "So we're joining a rebel group, so we can dismantle it from the inside out?"

"Yes."

Ozai explained the group as best he could. "I still haven't met everyone," he told her. There are various cells. "The leader is a man called Quyen. He says he was a Lieutenant in the war, but I don't remember him at all. He has a main advisor called Qiu and two other guys who act as Lieutenants for the group.

I fired Vachir from the Yuyan archers during the war, so when I learned he was apart of the group, I immediately became suspicious. There are various other people who cause me concern. How do you think we should play this?"

"Like we always do father, divide and conquer." Azula had an idea forming in her mind. She started to outline it, but she didn't give him all the details just yet.

When time was up, Ozai explained to her the quickest way home. She started to run She was a ways away from Capital City.

* * *

By the time she got home it was dinnertime. Of course, they met before then to learn what Azula had learned.

"That was a really long date," Suki told her.

"Well, we did have sex a few times and …"

Zuko dropped his fork. "Tell me you're not fucking the informant."

"I'm not, but stupid begets stupid," Azula told him.

"Did you learn anything good?" Mai asked her.

"I did."

"Like?"

"Like who the first informant was and of course who his father is."

"Azula," Zuko warned.

"Remember Chan. His dad dragged him into this."

"So we know not to trust the admiral," Mai said. "What else?"

"My informant is concerned that he's being railroaded. That the leader of the group has his own plan for the country that he's keeping from everyone else."

"Like what?"

"Like he's pretending to put me on the throne, but he really wants to kill me next and make himself Fire Lord."

"You think this is a trap?" Suki questioned.

"My informant does, which is interesting. If he doesn't trust the group at all, then I wonder how much they trust him. They may be more disjointed than I previously thought."

"And how does that help us?" Sokka questioned.

"We pit them against each other, make them decide whether or not they want to back their leader or me and let them fight it out."

"You want to collapse the group on itself," Mai stated.

"Yes, tear it apart from the inside and sweep away the pieces."

"When will you meet him again?" Zuko questioned.

"I don't know. I usually don't get much warning."

**August 102AG**

Two more months went by and they were no closer to finding Ozai or figuring out anything about the Defenders of Sozin. Admiral Chan hadn't been in his home or his vacation home in months. He retired after the war only to slowly fade away. No one had seen his son either, so it seemed likely that Chan was the first informant.

Zuko's friends were getting impatient.

"We've been playing her games for three months," Sokka told him. "It's about time she give us something other than well, they're biding their time."

"Has she had any communication with them?" Mai questioned. "She might not have anything new."

"She knows who this guy is," Suki reminded her.

"Well there's that."

Azula wasn't surprised when she was the last one invited to whatever strategy meeting they had today.

"You called for me."

"What's going on with this group?"

"I don't know. I still only know two reluctant members and I told you about the mercenaries. I don't have plans or locations. I've never seen any of these bunkers."

"Where are your meetings?" Toph questioned.

"I get a time and place. I go there and then I get note after note until I'm somewhere that I've never been before and then I get vague directions on how to get back to the capital when I'm done. It's why it took me so long last time. I was in the woods somewhere."

"They want to make sure that you can shake any tail," Toph stated.

"Or if they see the tail, they just won't show up. I haven't met anyone in two months."

"Who is he?" Sokka demanded to know

"Who is who?" What a terrible question.

"This informant."

"Not telling you."

"DAMN IT! This isn't a game."

"Actually it is. I didn't write the rules, but neither did you. We're in a game whether or not we want to be, and I play to live, so no, I'm not giving you the one assurance I have that you won't sacrifice me to the wolves the first chance you get."

They tried to get her to tell them. They threatened her. Tried to sweet talk her. She swore Toph tried flirting with her, but Azula held her ground. "You want to know who he is, you figure it out. If you're half as smart as you think you are," Azula said to Sokka in particular, "you should be able to do that."

She retreated to her room.

"That was successful," Katara said dryly.

Zuko finally wrote to his uncle Iroh.

The man came at once.

"Why didn't you tell me Ozai got out?"

"Because we didn't tell the other world leaders, so they wouldn't be furious with me for losing the world's biggest war criminals. We tried to find him on our own, but we failed."

"He's apart of some rebel group called the Defenders of Sozin," Mai added.

"What do you know about them?"

"Only what Azula told us."

"What?"

"One of their members wrote to her and she relayed at least some of that information to Zuko."

"What do you mean some?"

"Well, she's never shown me the letters, but she told me there was an plan to break out Ozai, but we still couldn't stop it. She also said our barricade would fail since he would hide in the Fire Nation, and it did, so we must assume she was right about that too.

We don't really know if she's playing us or just too distrustful to share with us what exactly goes on when she meets with these informants, but everyone's mad at me for working with her, but no one has any better ideas on how to bring this group down."

"From what we can tell, she's been truthful with what she has told us, but we have no idea how much she's hiding. We don't know what her endgame is and I don't know if we'll find out before it's over. Actually, I doubt if we'll truly know even after it's all over. She might still be weighing out her options. I wouldn't be surprised if she picked at the very last minute, so she didn't lose."

"So let me make sure I have all this down. Some group, presumably a powerful one is out to dethrone you. The only source of intelligence you have is your sister, who presumably this group wants to replace you with and you have no idea what she's actually trying to accomplish or even if she knows at this point. Did you miss anything?"

Zuko shook his head.

"Wait," Mai said. "According to Azula, her informant told her that he thinks the leader really wants to kill Azula after they kill Zuko and make himself Fire Lord and that he has plans that most of his group doesn't even know about."

"So get Azula to do the dirty work and then kill her and take her spot."

"Yeah, but she could have made that up to give us a reason to think she's actually on her side or she might think she can oust the leader like she did Long Feng and take the coup over or it could just be true. We don't really know."

"And she won't tell us who her informant is, so we can't get it from the ostrich horse's mouth," Zuko added.

Iroh was exhausted just listening to this mess. "I'm going to get some tea and think."

He went and sat in the lounge.

Aang was away from the palace right now. He had other avatar duties to fulfill and it wasn't like there were any new developments. The palace was everyone's home base until this thing was over.

Sokka had been sparring with the warriors. He came inside and saw Iroh.

"How's it going?" he asked the former General.

"I've had better days. Have you been here long?"

"Since May, when we learned there would be an attempt. I was there, and I feel like an idiot. I let Ozai go right passed me."

Sokka explained how Ozai had masqueraded as an injured guard, so they sent him to the hospital only for him to disappear. "They infiltrated the prison and pretended to be the medical team. We didn't know the real medical team, so we fell for it."

"They must be well connected," Iroh said solemnly.

"Azula seems to think so."

"What do you think her endgame is?"

"I can't read her. She has Zuko over a barrel and she knows it."

"She's made herself the only source of information."

"And it's hard to even follow her. She leaves at the last minute and I'm sure she knows how to spot a tail."

"Do you think Zuko should change anything?"

"I don't know. I don't like where this is going, but I don't have any ideas as to how to fix it."

Toph came in, "Gramps!"

"Hey Toph," he greeted her with a hug. "How are you?"

"I'm great. Everyone else here is gloomy!"

"What has you in a good mood?"

"I'm just ready to kick butt and take names, always."

Iroh chuckled. "You're not concerned about our precarious situation."

"My friends been a precarious situation since I met them. Why worry now?"

"I suppose that's a fair point. What are you doing in the mean time?"

"Training. I would train with the warriors, but they're kind of wussy!"

"THEY ARE NOT!" Sokka insisted.

"Then why are they afraid of a good boulder. Azula wasn't scared of me at all. We had a good spar yesterday."

"Really?"

"Yeah, it was kind of dangerous though. Who knew if you threw lightening at a metal chain you'd get magnets? Damn things almost took off both our heads. Ah, that was fun."

Toph sat down ant took a cup of tea. "So you got anything good Gramps?"

"I can't say that I do."

Iroh wasn't sure what he could add at this precise moment. It seems like they just had to wait.

He wondered if he should try talking to his niece. He had never gotten anywhere talking to her before, but what did he have to lose. They were just sitting around.

He went to her door and knocked. Azula was writing a letter to Lo and Li.

"State your name and your business," Azula said coolly as she continued to write.

Iroh came in.

Azula turned around.

"I didn't say come in. You never were good with directions, were you?"

Azula looked more or less how she had the last time he had seen her, which was during the war. Her eyes were still menacing.

"I thought I'd come to see how you were doing."

"That's a lie and you know it." Azula glared at him. "I've lived in this room for 7 years now. You've never come by once just to see how I was doing. So state your business and then get out."

He wanted to refute that, but he wasn't sure if he had any examples. "Maybe we could start over."

"You didn't come here for that either, so state your business." Azula was past the point of fake reconciliations. She really just wanted him to go away, so she could finish what she was doing.

"Are you sure you're handling this all the way you should?"

"You don't know to get to the point do you?"

"Why won't you tell Zuko who your informant is?"

"What do I gain by telling him?"

"His trust?"

"Not going to happen. Even if he could trust me, he has to save face in front of everyone else, including you, so that's not really anything worth bargaining for."

"How can you expect anyone to trust you when you keep so many secrets?"

"You think I'm the only one in this palace who keeps secrets. Try looking in the mirror."

"Why can't we just move forward?"

"Because you won't let go of the past. My past is why you're here. You didn't come her to try and repair anything. You came here to do Zuko's bidding because he found himself down in a hole and he can't find the way out. We don't move anywhere because we are nothing to each other, and I'm past the point of pretending, so just take you leave. It's what you always do anyway."

Iroh turned around and left. This was a mistake.

Azula finally finished her letter and had her servant send it out.

* * *

Sokka followed the servant, but the letter just went to the post chute. He'd have to go through all the letters to try and find that one and who knows if he could identify it properly. He didn't get a good look at the seal.

"She sent a letter to someone," Sokka told Mai.

"Through the mail?"

"Yes."

"It was probably just to Lo and Li."

"Can we trust them?"

Mai shrugged. "They've never really done anything terrible. I don't know, however, if they would choose Zuko if it came down to either him or Azula. She's probably the closest thing to family either of them had. They never had children."

"They see Azula as a daughter?" it sounded ridiculous.

"Probably more like a granddaughter," Mai added. "They're quite old."

"Spirits help me if I get a child like her."

"If you did, you must have done something awful to her. Azula was made into what she is. No one's born that way."

Sokka frowned. The letter seemed to be a dead end.

Azula skipped dinner. She had food sent to her chambers instead.

The servant informed Zuko that his sister would not be joining them. "I guess we're it," Zuko said to the table. They started to eat.

The conversation was mostly normal. The seat Azula always sat in was empty. Sokka couldn't stop staring at it. Why didn't she come to dinner?

"Is something wrong your food?" Suki questioned.

"Oh no," he started eating.

After dinner, however, he went to see what Azula was really up to. He climbed a tree, so he could see into her bedroom. He saw Azula reading a book on her bed. It hardly looked like she was up to anything. He wondered if the book might have had coded messages or something. When he tried to get closer and see what the book was, he fell out the tree, alerting Azula to his presence. She went to the window and promptly closed the curtains.

"Great, she thinks I'm a peeping pervert."

"What are you doing Snoozles?" Toph came to see what was his problem.

"Let's just say I made an ass of myself."

"Well no crap, Snoozles." Toph got him inside. "You fell out of a tree trying to spy on her."

"I thought she was up to something and that's why she skipped dinner."

"She probably skipped dinner because she hates her uncle," Mai said bluntly.

"Gramps?" Toph questioned.

"They've always had bad blood, and it started long before Azula joined the war. She probably just ate dinner in her room."

"I wish I knew that before I fell out of that tree. Now she probably thinks I'm a pervert."

"I'm sure she thinks you're just an incompetent spy."

"Oh thanks. That's better."

"I think bad spy is better than pervert," Toph told him. "Maybe she'll underestimate you."

Azula didn't even bother to report Sokka's blunder to Zuko. He heard about it from Mai anyway.

"I can't believe he tried to climb that tree," Zuko said with a laugh.

"Well, Sokka doesn't always think his ideas through, does he?"

"I doubt she'd leave any obvious signs of betrayal anyway," Zuko said. "If she's up to something, she'll keep it very hard to figure out until the very end."

"So we lie in wait."

"I'd like to think we could take her down again. She's on her own since Ozai can't bend anymore."

"If she did beat all of us, then she deserves to be Fire Lord," Mai agreed. "Because she'd have to be the best mastermind of all time."

"Don't tell that to Sokka. He might come up with some other crazy plan like trying to masquerade as her servant or something."

"Oh he'll learn eventually, or she'll eat him alive."

Sokka took a hot bath after his blunder. He was really sore, but he was lucky he didn't break any bones. When Suki came back to her bedroom, he was out for the count. He must have been tired, Suki figured as she climbed into bed. He didn't even try to fool around with her tonight.


	4. Trust

**September 102AG**

Azula finally got another letter. This letter was from a friend.

Dear Princess,

The boss would like to meet you. As far as he knows, you have made no contact with your father, so pretend it is the first time you've seen him since the war ended.

There is a bookstore at the edge of the city. On Sunday at 2PM, go inside and pick up a copy of The Boy Who Found a Dragon. While you're reading it, an escort will come to take you to our location.

Best of Luck,

A Friend.

It was Thursday. Azula hid the letter and tried to prepare herself mentally. She had to convince this Quyen guy that she was all on board with his plan, whatever it was, and act as if she and Ozai didn't have one side game and that she and Zuko didn't have another. Azula's memory was almost flawless. It was necessary in her line of work because she had to remember which lies she told which people and to make sure they didn't intersect and out her. She had to make sure she could still do all of this.

She hid this letter. She could have just burned them all, but she wanted her own evidence if things went down. Who knows what story the others would spin if things went south? Azula had to look out for herself, no one else ever would.

* * *

Sokka asked Ty Lee if she could keep an eye on Azula.

"I could, but I don't know what I could tell you that you don't already know."

"She must confide something in you."

Ty Lee shrugged. "She doesn't, well not anymore. I doubt she will again after Boiling Rock."

Ty Lee didn't regret her choice for a second, but she doubted Azula did either, so she didn't see them talking political strategy ever again.

"She doesn't talk to Mai?"

"Not about anything Mai would want to tell Zuko."

"Does she confide in anyone?"

"I doubt it."

"Not even Lo and Li."

"I don't think she'd write anything to them that could be used against her. I'm sure she suspects Zuko screens her mail, whether or not he actually does. She keeps everything in her head. She's always has. We didn't even know we would be conquering Ba Sing Se until we already got there."

"What?" That's insane.

"She kept the plan under her hair pin. I don't even know if she told Ozai first."

The conversation with Ty Lee was informative but it only caused Sokka to be more disturbed than he had been before. How do you match wits with someone you can't get a read on at all?

On Saturday, however, Ty Lee was surprised when the Crown Princess invited her and Mai to dim sum.

"What is this for?" Mai questioned.

"Can't a girl have dim sum with her friends?"

"She could, but this is you."

"Mai, maybe this could just be fun," Ty Lee said.

"Yeah, maybe it could be," Azula said.

Mai rolled her eyes. "Fine."

With a wave of her fingers, the servants started bringing carts of food and teas. They knew what Azula wanted. She had very particular dim sum tastes.

"These are good," Ty Lee said of the taro puffs.

"How come the ones Zuko orders aren't as good?" Mai questioned.

"Because he likes the just cow pig ones, and I like the cow pig and oyster prawn ones."

"Have you two ever agreed on anything?"

"We both like whiskey."

"I guess that's something."

Of course, Azula had an end game. She wanted to see if this lunch attracted any attention. It did. She could tell that Sokka was underneath her pavilion and he had company.

"What are they saying?" Sokka questioned.

"Hush up so I can hear?" Toph said.

Azula wondered if Sokka was always watching her room or if one of the girls had mentioned the invitation. Azula was used to games of cat and mouse. She wasn't, however, used to having to be the cat and the mouse at the same time. Oh the webs we weave when we are trying to deceive.

She waited until the meal was almost over to see if she could get him to slip up.

"It's too bad, Mai, that you can't join us for the all you can eat steakhouse," Azula said loudly.

"What are you?" Mai questioned.

"MEAT!" Sokka yelped.

"You idiot!" Toph hissed at him.

"Oops."

"Hmm, I wonder why they thought this conversation would be interesting," Azula said, as she went back to eating.

"You knew they were there," Mai said to her.

"Well I did catch him in my tree the other day and I heard heavy breathing, so I assumed he was waiting for some revelation. I decided to let him know he was wasting his time."

"After we were done eating," Ty Lee said.

"Well it would have been no fun if I had told him before."

Neither Mai nor Ty Lee knew what to make of that lunch. She didn't try to get any information out of them, but she didn't offer anything either.

* * *

Dinner was not an eventful affair. Afterwards, Zuko suggested they meet for drinks in the lounge.

When everyone else turned right, Azula turned left.

"You aren't going to join us?" Zuko questioned.

"No." She turned to her room.

She did not need alcohol clouding her mind nor did she need the paranoia that came from everyone eyeing her suspiciously. Instead, she just read until she fell asleep.

Sokka took over as bartender, and he poured heavy.

The warriors started talking about clothes and fashion. The others were talking politics and Mai and Ty Lee weren't exactly in the mood for either conversation.

"Is she going to break down again?" Ty Lee asked Mai.

"I have no idea," Mai said quickly. Who knows what's she is trying to accomplish?

They had their own conversation, but neither of them was in the mood for much socialization.

Eventually, Ty Lee retired and Mai went to just sit by Zuko and not say anything.

Sokka eyed them both wearily.

"What is it?" Toph questioned.

"Both of them have been acting strangely today."

"According to the fool who was caught spying on them."

"I wasn't spying on them. I was spying on Azula."

"Then why not just wait for them to come back with whatever she said if she said anything at all."

Sokka didn't have an answer.

Toph went back to her drink.

* * *

Azula went out to her morning practice. She had too much energy and some of it needed to be dissipated. Cerulean flames filled the sky as she practiced one move after the other.

"Her form is always flawless," Zuko said as he watched from his window.

"Perfection comes at a steep price," Mai reminded him.

"I know."

She went inside and took her bath before getting ready for what would be some type of test.

At 1PM, she summoned her palanquin crew to be ready in 10 minutes. At 1:15, she left the palace. It would only take 30 minutes to get her to the store, but she didn't want them to take her there. Instead, she told them to take her to the sandwich shop where she had been before.

Sokka borrowed Zuko's palanquin and had the Fire Lord's crew follow Azula's crew.

Unfortunately for him, Azula instructed her crew to make a giant circle around the city after they dropped her off.

Sokka went on the entire loop, just to see that she wasn't on the palanquin anymore.

"Damn, she must have slipped off!"

He had no idea where she had gone.

At 1:57 she entered the bookshop and at 2:00, she was reading the chosen book, leaning against the wall. It was 10 minutes later when a man came, wearing a cloak to hide his face, and said her chariot waits. While Sokka was in his tour of Capital City, Azula was leaving the city, making her way into the woods. Eventually, it was too dense for the carriage and they had to walk the rest of the way.

She got to a clearing where there was one man waiting for her. He had his chest puffed out like he was a big shot. He must be Quyen. To his left was Qiu, a scrawny man that immediately reminded her of Long Feng.

At their sides were two other men who must be Quyen's lieutenants.

"I must say it isn't every day that I am invited to a party in the woods."

Quyen grinned. "I wish we had more dignified meeting places, but stealth must be the priority."

"I backpacked through the Earth Kingdom in order to conquer it, I know how to give up luxury."

"I believe you know why you're here."

"I heard you might lead something I might want to take part in."

As the two started to chat, Ozai watched from a distance, wanting to see how Azula interacted with Quyen. She was always the charmer when she wanted to be.

Chan was watching Ozai watching Azula. He hoped he made the right move. He really just wanted to live at the end of the day, preferably not in Boiling Rock.

"We have very good fighters. We have weapons that your brother thinks were destroyed after the war."

"Then what are you waiting for?"

"We need a flawless attack. It won't do much good if we bloody Zuko, but don't kill him. He needs to die in a resounding show of power."

"And you want to be the one to give him the death blow."

"I would never step on your toes princess. That is for you and your father to decide."

"He really is here?" She questioned as if she didn't know.

"See for yourself."

Azula went where he had pointed and there he was. "Father?"

She ran to him and hugged him, catching the former Fire Lord by surprise. He didn't know when she had hugged him last.

"My child. You found your way where you belong."

"I have so much to tell you."

"Then let's chat." They went away from the rest of the group.

Azula explained what had happened since his escape as if they hadn't spoken afterwards.

"So your brother assembled all his friends. They're squatting in our palace and doing a pathetic job of monitoring your behavior."

"He took Zuko's palanquin to follow mine, like I wouldn't see him."

Ozai laughed. "So what are you going to do about your unwanted friends?"

"If they don't stay out of my way, I'll force them out."

"I need you to find something out for me," Ozai said to his daughter.

"What?"

"How do you reverse energybending? No one here knows."

Of course, Ozai wanted his firebending back. "I will have to research carefully. I don't know who in the palace is watching me or to whom they report."

"I might suggest the local university library over the palace one."

"Perhaps."

After her talk with Ozai, Azula met with Quyen once more.

"We'll be in touch," she said. "I have a feeling this can work out well for both of us," she lied.

"Perfect Princess. I look forward to it."

She was taken not to the bookshop but to another part of town. Instead of going to the library right away, she went home.

* * *

Sokka was already there. "I lost her," he admitted to the Fire Lord.

"What?"

"I took your palanquin to try and see where she was going, and she gave me the slip. I didn't realize it until I went on a tour of the city."

"How?"

"She slipped away and told her palanquin to keep going, so I'd keep following it."

"She gave you a false tail to chase."

"The harder I try to pin her down, the sneakier she gets."

"Maybe you're trying too hard," Zuko suggested. "Maybe we should try smarter."

Zuko found the most broke member of Azula's palanquin crew and offered him coins to report back on the Princess's whereabouts.

He readily agreed.

"Let's not physically follow her at all for a while," Zuko told Sokka. "Maybe then, we'll get some answers."

* * *

Azula went to the royal library, but after the librarian left for the night. She had a key that her father had given her years ago, so she could study at all hours and went in the cover of night, using the secret passageways.

She grabbed books on firebending, the history of the avatar, anything that might tell her how energybending works.

She had a lot of reading to do. She hid the books once she got to her room. She refused to tell anyone what Ozai had asked of her. She wasn't even sure if it was possible. She kind of hoped it wasn't.

* * *

Over the next month, Azula's trips did not prove to be very interesting. She would go to the bookstore or the university library. It was not as if the crewmember could tell Zuko what books she was reading.

When Sokka did go to inquire about the princess, he only learned that she came in a few times that month. If the employee had witnessed her encounter with the cloaked man, then he didn't tell Sokka about it.

"All we know is that she's likely researching something," Zuko said. "She could be researching anything."

"Like what?" Sokka questioned.

"I don't know, new firebending moves. How to redirect lightening? How to master energybending."

"Only the avatar can energybend!"

"Do we know that for sure?" Zuko asked. "Maybe she didn't either."

The librarian in the palace only said she had been reading fiction. "She didn't come for anything that I think would interest you," he said to Zuko.

It was another dead end.

Azula had learned about the lion turtles and how Wan had stolen firebending from one. If Ozai could get to a lion turtle, maybe he could get his bending back that way. Azula wasn't sure what she wanted to do. She knew Ozai would pick her over Zuko, but Ozai would pick himself first of all? If she helped him now, would he only betray her later?

The worst part about this was she had no one to talk to. Mai and Ty Lee's allegiance was with Zuko. Everyone was either with Zuko or with Ozai or with Quyen. She had an empty corner and no matter how quickly she maneuvered, she could not get any outside perspective. She was trapped in her own mind, and she had to find a way out.

Everyone left her, everyone except two people. She had to talk to them. They were the only ones who could help her.

Azula wrote to them asking if she could visit them at Ember Island. She quickly got a response.

"You are always welcome here Princess."

Azula packed her bag, unsure of how long she would be staying.

She was about to leave when Suki got in her way. "Where do you think you're going?"

"On vacation."

"Since when do you go on vacation?"

"Since I find myself in need of rest."

"Does Zuko know where you're going?"

"Why don't you ask him?"

"I don't have to let you leave." With her chi blocking ability, Suki was confident that she could overtake Azula.

"You don't have any authority over me. If you don't move, I'll make you move."

Before Suki could answer that, there was some kind of crash. Suki had to investigate it. Azula did not.

"It was my fault," the servant said. "I didn't see master Sokka coming and I knocked him into this statue."

"I'm okay," Sokka wheezed out. He had been trying to learn where Azula was headed. Of course, she left in the collision.

The servant apologized again and took off. He didn't know where Azula had been trying to go, but hopefully, she can get there undetected now.

Suki reported Azula's disappearance. "She said she was going on vacation."

"She's allowed to do that," he answered.

"Did she tell you?"

"No."

"Aren't you concerned?"

"I bribed her palanquin crew. I'll find out where she's going."

When the crew returned however, Zuko's didn't know where she went. "She went to the dock and sent us away. I don't know what boat she got on or where it went."

When Zuko went to the docks himself, no one reported seeing the princess. Either she disguised herself well or she paid someone not to say where she had gone.

He was not happy when he returned to the palace. "She thought to get rid of the crew before she boarded the boat."

"So either she knew about your bribe or she just didn't trust them." Mai told him.

"Azula did always play close to her hand."

"Do we look for her or do we wait?"

Zuko wasn't sure. "I don't know." He never asked where she went because he knew, but now she's evading him. Evading Sokka made sense; she doesn't answer to him, but she is supposed to answer to me.

Ty Lee didn't know where she went. "She's been keeping to herself, even more than usual."

Aang came back. "I can do a fly around for her, but without more information, I'm kind of stuck."

Azula came to Lo and Li. "I'm really tired."

"Have you been training too hard?" Li questioned.

Azula shook her head. "It's the only time I can clear my head."

"What is on your mind?"

Azula started to explain her troubles. "Quyen says he's on my side, but Ozai says it's a sham. Ozai presents himself as if he's on my side, but he might be making his own push for the crown. Zuko says he wants me to get better, but he still treats me like I'm a criminal.

His friends spy on me like they have a right to know everything I do. I have no autonomy unless I hide, so I hide everything. I need someone to watch my blindside, but I can't trust anyone there. I'm afraid I will die no matter who wins in this clash of the titans."

"You think too much my child," Lo told her. "You need to let go of this anxiety, so you can find your own way."

"Rest now," Li told her. "I think you will find the answers that you seek if you give your mind a break."

She fell asleep in their spare bedroom.

When she woke up, they didn't ask her anything else about her work. If anything, they hoped she would just let it leave her mind long enough so she could truly heal.

* * *

Aang and Katara did a flyover checking Hama's village, Fire Fountain City, Ember Island and every island in between, but they had no luck.

"Even if she is in one of those places, what if she's just inside?" Katara asked.

Aang shrugged. "There's not much else we can do. Checking everywhere by foot would be really time consuming and it doesn't help if she keeps moving around."

"I don't know why Zuko didn't watch her more carefully."

"Azula's trained to spot tails. Every attempt they had failed, so I understand why they tried to watch her from a distance. She still saw through it."

"What do you think is going to happen?"

"I have no idea."

Zuko turned to Mai and Ty Lee for help, but neither of them knew of the Princess's plans.

"Where would she go? Pretend you were Azula," Zuko asked Ty Lee.

"Well," Ty Lee tried. "Azula took a bag this time, which she hadn't before, and so she plans on staying overnight. It has to be with someone she knows or she's staying in an inn or something. I don't think she'd stay with these rebels if she doesn't really know them that well, so maybe Lo and Li?"

"What if she knows them better than she let on?"

"I still don't think she's stay out on some bunker or something when she had been able to give you the slip easily enough anyway. She either went looking for something or someone, and since I don't know what she's trying to find, I don't know what to tell you."

"Maybe we should just search her room," Sokka suggested.

"On what basis?" Zuko questioned. "She didn't actually do anything."

"She left without telling you."

"I never required her to tell me. It's not a condition of her probation."

"Why not?"

"I was more concerned about what she was doing than where she was. I didn't really know where she was the whole year Lo and Li took her. She lived on Ember Island, but I didn't restrict her travel then."

"But it's your palace," Suki pointed out.

"And it's still her room. If I tossed your room right now just because I could, you'd be furious."

Suki frowned. Doesn't he get that this is Azula?

"What's the difference between paying her palanquin crew to watch where she's going and searching her room?" Sokka challenged.

"It's totally different," Toph said. "Her crew sees what anyone in the public could see if they paid attention. Anyone could report to Zuko on Azula's whereabouts when she's in public, and Azula can't stop them, but not anyone can just go in her room and toss it around."

"Whose side are you on?" Sokka questioned.

"Zuko's, but that doesn't mean he shouldn't have limits. It would be one thing if someone caught her doing something and she was being treated like any other suspect, but Zuko wouldn't just go into a citizen's home and toss it around because he's the Fire Lord. That would make him a dictator. Azula's room is no different since you have no proof she did anything."

"After all she did during the war?" Katara questioned. "You don't think there's any proof."

"That's she's doing something now. No. Who knows how many war criminals aren't in jail right now? Zuko hasn't even looked for most of them, much less gone to their last known address and torn apart their stuff.

I'm not saying to trust her or that she should have the freedom that she has, but Zuko had the authority to set whatever conditions on her probation he thought were reasonable. She had no bargaining power, and he took what he wanted. That's it, unless you have proof she did anything to violate her probation."

Iroh had gone to visit Piando. He had wanted a fresh perspective on this whole situation since everyone else had been entrenched in it for months. He felt like he had just walked in on a fight when he got back. "Did something happen?"

"Azula took off and no one knows where," Aang said quickly.

"She got on a boat," Ty Lee added.

"We don't know that," said Mai. "She went to the dock. She could have wanted us to think she got on a boat and really went somewhere else."

"It would explain why none of the dockworkers saw her," Zuko added.

"How long as she been gone?" Iroh asked.

"Three days now," Zuko answered.

"And our search obviously turned up nothing," Katara said dryly.

"Have you searched her room?"

They all stared at Zuko and Toph.

"She didn't do anything," Zuko insisted. "She was allowed to leave."

"I just think Zuko should play by whatever rules he made up. It's his game," Toph told Iroh.

"And did her probation agreement say anything about room searches?"

"Not warrantless ones," Zuko told him. "It did say I could read her correspondence, but I didn't actually do it."

"Maybe there's correspondence in her room," Sokka offered.

Zuko didn't bite. "I don't know what to do. She'll come back whenever she feels like it, and who knows what she'll say about where she's been if anything."

"I think you need to be tougher when it comes to her."

"How?" Zuko questioned. "When she doesn't want to answer something, she just stops talking. I'm not my father. I won't torture it out of her, and she know that, so she just shuts off."

Iroh frowned.

"She might know you won't torture her, but she doesn't know that we won't," Suki suggested.

Aang got really uncomfortable. Sokka was too. He was fine with violating her privacy but even the threat of torture sounded too terrible.

"Might I point out," Mai started, "that she can throw lightening and if she actually thinks she's in danger, she won't hesitate to kill you all and she'll have a pretty good self defense argument."

That's when the conversation took a different turn.

"Maybe we should just ask Lo and Li if she went there," Ty Lee offered.

"It can't hurt." Zuko wrote them a letter and got a response two days later saying that she had come there, but she left and they thought she would come back to their house before going home, but they didn't know when.

"So she did go to Ember Island," Mai realized.

"She probably stayed inside," Suki added, "which is why Aang and Katara didn't see her."

* * *

After spending a few days at Lo and Li's Azula realized that she had to actually move around. She needed to be out on her own and she couldn't just lounge around in their home. She decided to explore the tiny islands to the northeast of Ember Island.

Maybe there, she'd find some way to clear her mind. She did not like to swim, but the second and the third island were so close together that it made more sense than getting a boat and possibly attracting attention to herself. An hour later, she was on land again, but she was tired, so she fell asleep.

When she woke up, she was dry. Her body's heatbending dried her and kept her warm while she rested. She got up and was troubled. Something is wrong. She got in a defensive posture, but no enemy appeared. When she looked back at the beach, she realized it was getting smaller. Is it shrinking? She realized it wasn't shrinking, but she was moving. She jumped into the water and saw that she had managed to fall asleep on a lion turtle. She swam in front of him and asked him if he could help her.

The creature's head raced towards her. She thought he would eat her, but he opened his mouth just to say go higher. She swam upwards, and he raised his head.

"Child of Agni," he said. "How can I help you?"

"I am lost. I mean, I know how to get back home, but I don't know what I should do when I get there."

She explained that her father asked her to get his bending back after the Avatar took it away. "He deserved to have it taken," she admitted, "but now we're up against some really bad guys, who wouldn't hesitate to kill all of us. He might need his bending to defend this worse threat, but once that threat is over, I don't know if he will return to his old ways," Azula told the turtle. "I don't want to condemn him, but I also don't want him to hurt anyone else if it's unjustified. It doesn't seem as if either path is correct."

The land turtle explained to her a third way, one she would not have found in any book. He showed her what to do and said that if her heart remained pure, then she would be able to get through this just fine.

"Thank you," she said as she got herself back to actual land. She had to go home. First, she had to go to Lo and Li and get her stuff.

"Your brother asked about you," Li told her as she arrived.

"We told him you were here, but not what you told us. That isn't his business."

"Thank you," she said, "for everything. I know I wasn't always the most grateful student."

"Oh you have always been a delight," Lo insisted.

"No one has ever absorbed information like you do," Li complimented her.

"I hope I absorbed enough."

She took her bag and returned to the palace.

She managed to get to the foyer and was about to go to her room to crash when she heard a bombardment of voices. "There you are! Where have you been? Why didn't you tell anyone where you were going? Whom were you meeting with?"

She wasn't sure whom to answer. She asked the servant to take her bag back to her quarters.

"You know where I was," she told them. "Why tell you what you were going to find out anyway?"

Azula went right back to her room.

Iroh saw firsthand why Zuko couldn't deal with her.

"How do I respond to that? She just says something and walks away. It's not like I'm going to barge into her room or drag her back out here."

Ty Lee tried knocking on Azula's door.

"Who is it?"

"Ty Lee."

"Enter if you dare."

Ty Lee opened the door. "I was worried about you when you left."

"Because you thought I was in danger or you thought I was the danger?"

"Both," Ty Lee admitted. "It's hard to know what you are going to do or what you are planning."

"You do realize that's by design."

"But it makes it harder for people to trust you."

"Trust goes both ways Ty Lee. You say my secrets make me hard to trust, but you keep your own. You all collude to get whatever it is you are hoping to get, yet you expect me to just tell you everything. You all have each other. On my side, it's just me. I keep my secrets because I have no one to confide in anymore, and I know that will likely never change."

"I'm sorry that things got this way," Ty Lee said as she tried to fight back tears.

"Me too."

Eventually Ty Lee went back to the others.

"Did you learn anything?" Mai asked.

"No," she really didn't. Azula only said what Ty Lee already knew but she didn't want to admit. They all say they're on the side of good, but what did they do since she was gone: try to hunt her down like a rabid dog, break into her room to search through her stuff, consider scaring her until she spoke. Azula had no reason to tell them anything. She likely never would.


	5. The Informant

In November, Azula got a letter from her father asking if she had learned how to help him.

She wrote back that she had, but there were limitations to what she could do.

He said that he wished to see her in person.

She said that she could arrange that, but Zuko and his friends grew more desperate. They were determined to learn what she would not tell them."

"Leave it to me," Ozai said. "I will find a way to get you out without them knowing any better."

A week later, the Head Sage asked Zuko's permission to take Azula on a retreat. "It's only for a few hours," he told his sovereign.

"Sure, but may I ask why?"

"Before the Fire Nation became a warmongering country, it was more spiritual. The Fire Lord himself was the best bender and the most connected to the spirits. Azula has all of the talent in the world, but it's the spiritual side that she does not understand. I would like to try to show her."

"Of course." Zuko trusted his sage and told the others to stand down.

They went to a hidden temple that not even Azula had heard of before.

"We used to do all of our rites here, before the Fire Lord became a political position. It was once a spiritual one, but one day, the Lead Sage wanted all the power for himself and he became the Fire Lord, killing all who opposed him. Fire is a physical and a spiritual element. The harsh burn has been retained in our culture but not the spiritual side."

They meditated together and Azula began to try to channel Agni. Instead of asking for guidance on how to fight, however, she asked him about how to live.

Our world is made of both light and darkness, the Sage told her. Raava is the light and Vaatu is the darkness. They battle each other, but they can never fully win, as without darkness, there is no reason for light. When Raava vanquishes Vaatu, he only corrupts her until he can come back.

If Vaatu vanquished Raava, then someone would fine what little light was in him and bring her back. It is this tension that makes it hard to know right from wrong. We have both of them within us, and we have to learn to find the light while being mindful of our own darkness."

* * *

When they were done with their lesson, the Head Sage told her that her first test would be coming up soon.

Ozai approached.

"I told you Zuko wouldn't look for you."

"You did well."

"So what have you learned about energybending?"

"Aang didn't exactly take your bending. He blocked it by distorting your chi. I can unblock it, but you will be tied to me. It won't be like what it was before the war ended. It will be a spirit link if you will, and it takes time to make it permanent," Azula said. "I can try right now, but I think it would only last a few hours. I don't have the luxury of the avatar state."

It was better than what he could get out of anyone else. "What do I do?"

"Extend your hands. I warn you, this will burn." Azula slowly expelled her flame, using it to force Ozai's chi into place.

The lion turtle taught her how to temporarily give Ozai his bending back, so he would have to keep coming to her to get it. This would make it hard for him to use it without her to supervise. It also meant she could override his chi if she needed. She decided to set it for three hours.

Ozai cringed, but he didn't cry. When she was done, he made a flame, his first in over two years. "Well I'll be damned. You really are a prodigy."

They sparred together, the first time in ages. Ozai threw a lightening bolt into the air. Azula realized suddenly that she should learn how to redirect it. "Did you ever learn how to redirect lightening?"

"No. I think Iroh made it up."

Azula grunted. She wouldn't ask him or Zuko.

"I think I can teach you," Ozai said. "All we have to do is make it up."

He realized the lightening couldn't go through the heart. It has to go downwards, across the stomach.

He drew a line from Azula's hand down to her stomach and back up to the other side.

"This has to be the path," he taught her. "Are you ready?"

He didn't wait for her to ask. Instead, he just threw a bolt at her. She caught it with her hand and drew air, sending the lightening down her stomach and up the other side and expelled it out. It was a weird sensation, but she could do it.

"Are you ready to learn?" Azula questioned.

"Maybe not just yet," Ozai told her. "Who knows how this temporary bending does with redirecting lightening." It was a lame excuse, but Azula didn't question him. It was almost as if he was giving her a leg up against him.

"They're going to attack in the spring," Ozai told her.

"We don't have a lot of time," she told him.

"No, I think you will need to become a more regular member in January."

"Zuko will insist he meet my informant if I actually leave. I can't believe I've avoided telling him for this long."

"Just don't tell him about your energybending. I can handle him on my own if I have to."

Azula didn't ask what he meant by that.

* * *

The Head Sage took her back to the palace. On the way, Azula asked him whose side was he on?

"I'm on yours Princess."

"And why is that?"

"Because I know you can be so much more than anything your father ever wanted for you."

When she got back, of course Zuko wanted to learn about her trip.

"It was a mix of firebending, history and meditation," she told him, which was true in a way.

She didn't tell him that day, but two days later, she told him, "they plan on taking you out this upcoming spring," Azula said. "I think they will ask me to become a more present member in January, so we can prepare."

No one thought he should let Azula out of his sight for so long. He didn't even think it was a good idea.

"We still don't know who all is in there?" Mai told him. "So we know about some mercenaries and disgruntled military men. She still hasn't told us who her informant is."

Zuko decided six months was a long enough time. He demanded that Azula bring him to the palace.

"I can ask him to come. I don't command him."

"You know how to be persuasive," Zuko responded. "Persuade him."

**December 102AG**

They finally agreed on a meeting place. Azula would go to get her informant and bring him back to the palace.

"Bring Sokka with you." Zuko told her.

"What's he gonna do? Get beat up."

"HEY!"

"He's to make sure your informant doesn't run."

"Like he could stop him. If you want me to bring this bonehead I will, but it won't make any difference."

"Then bring him."

Azula rolled her eyes.

She sent a letter to her father telling him to expect futile company when she approached him.

She wasn't sure if he got it. She hadn't tried to initiate contact before, but she did her best.

Azula and Sokka took the palanquin to the center of town.

"Why couldn't we take Appa?" This was going to take forever, and he did not want to be next to her this long.

"Because nothing would give us away like a giant sky bison. Seriously were you born with a handicap?"

"If the informant is alone, then the others wouldn't see it."

"You assume they don't have eyes and they aren't watching to make sure Aang doesn't find them."

"Do they know he's on the case?"

"Ozai escaped. Of course he's on the case. They didn't need anyone to tell them that!"

"Okay! You don't have to yell."

"You don't have to be such a fool."

"I can do some things right."

"Yeah like planning invasions?"

"Sozin's Comet."

Azula scoffed. "You broke your leg and lost all your weapons. You couldn't even crash a ship right."

"At least I didn't lose my mind." A petty comeback but it was one.

"Do you want to see if I can make you lose yours?" Her eyes looked murderous.

He stopped talking. Finally!

They got message after message, taking them into various parts of the forest.

"How do we know if he's even going to show?"

"If he doesn't, it's because he saw you're scrawny butt!"

"I'm not scrawny."

"Teenage girls have more muscle than you do."

"Just because you were built like a man …" She was actually quite beautiful. She tripped him, making him fall in the dirt.

"OW!"

"Sorry, my mannish feet didn't see you there." Her feet were actually quite small.

Sokka picked himself up, and eventually, gold eyes met them.

"Zuko sent you with a babysitter," Ozai sneered.

"He actually just sent me with a baby."

"You can't be serious." Ozai was the informant!

"Now you see why I didn't tell you."

Sokka drew his sword.

"What are you doing?" Azula questioned.

"I have to take him down."

"He's going to kill you."

"Without his bending?"

"He'll still beat you up!"

Sokka charged only to be met with a right hook that knocked him out.

"Idiot!" she said to Sokka. "Now I have to carry you back."

Ozai grunted. He threw Sokka over his shoulder and carried him to the palanquin. The crew was baffled by his presence.

"I suggest we get a move on," he told them fiercely.

They quickly rushed to the palace.

Azula told him that the informant was waiting for Zuko's arrival.

* * *

The Fire Lord came, with all of his friends of course. Now who was this mystery man?

Once they all sat down, Azula came into the room with Ozai and Sokka. With the cloak, no one recognized him at first, but when he tossed Sokka on the floor like a bag of garbage, Zuko had a bad feeling.

"Now why would you send a puppy to come after a dragon?" Zuko and Aang recognized his voice right away.

"Ozai!"

He took off his hood. "You've gotten taller. You're still a whiny little punk."

"To whom are you talking?" Azula asked him.

"Both of them."

"Ah. Like I said. Sending Sokka was pointless. He only got himself knocked out."

"OW!" Sokka said from the ground.

At first, no one moved. Finally, Suki screamed. "What were you thinking?"

"I know, bringing you the most wanted criminal in the world. I must have been crazy."

"This isn't funny," Zuko told her.

"Who said I was joking? You asked to meet my informant. I brought him to you. What else do you want?"

"All this time he's been informing on the Defenders of Sozin?"

"Who do you think told me he was breaking out? It wasn't the tooth fairy!"

"Why would you want to help me?" Zuko questioned.

"Who said I wanted to help you? I wanted to make sure my bloodline didn't get wiped out by a bunch of treasonous rebels. It may be to your benefit, but that's just the cost of doing business."

"Why aren't we just taking him back to jail?" Katara questioned.

"For what purpose?" Azula retorted. "You would still be no where closer to bringing down this army."

"Where are they?" Zuko questioned.

"Hiding," Ozai said bluntly.

"Damn it, answer me!"

"I'm not going to tell you. What would be the fun in that? Besides, it's better if Azula and I take them out anyway."

"How is that better?"

"If you do it, you'll get some of them, but the other will only flee. They're divided into cells. I haven't even seen them all together at the same time, but if Azula joins them, she can get them all together and take them down from the inside. She's the only way that you can be assured that you got them all. Strike now and it will be like cutting a limb off a tree. The rest of it will still be growing."

Zuko frowned. "You can't possibly expect me to trust you."

"Of course you don't trust me. Why do you think I kept my role a secret for as long as I did? If Azula had told you I was her informant, you would have bungled this even worse than you already have. Seriously, a barricade? How much money did you waste doing that?"

Zuko got red. He was so pissed off.

"Azula, in my office, NOW!"

"So now he pretends to be the tough guy," Ozai mocked.

Azula went into the room before her brother. He shut the door, keeping everyone else out.

"I want a straight answer out of you. What the fuck were you thinking not telling me that Ozai was your informant?"

"I did it for your own good. You've never been able to tell when father was lying to you. If you had learned the information was coming from him, you would have overthought it and messed up because that's what you do around him. I know Ozai's a liar and a scoundrel, but I trust myself to tell when he's tricking me, better than I trust you to recognize when he's tricking you, so I decided to be the filter of information. I thought it kept both of us safer."

"This is huge. I can't believe you hid this from me."

"Really? What was I supposed to do? It was everyone else against me. It has been from the beginning. If I put my hand out for people to see, I would have been buried alive. I had to protect my own blindside."

Zuko frowned. "You should have come to me."

"How? Everything I tell you ends up in the ears of people who will publicly say I am their enemy. You ask me to trust you, but have you ever trusted me? You can't expect me to be an open book when you play the games you play, and you can't begrudge me that I'm better at spotting deception than you are."

"When did I deceive you?"

"Maybe when you paid my crew to spy on me or when you unleashed Sokka on me like a parasite from the undead."

She wasn't supposed to find out about that.

"You might have paid him off, but you didn't pay him to keep his mouth shut. I found out right away."

"We can't keep doing this. We'll never get anywhere if we fight each other on every front."

"You call the shots around here. That's in your hand more than anyone else's."

* * *

Meanwhile, Ozai was having his own conversation with Zuko's friends.

"You have a lot of nerve coming here," Katara hissed.

"That sounds funny coming from the Avatar's peasant whore who's squatting in my family's palace."

Aang was livid. "You best shut up."

"What are you going to do? Take my bending again?" he mocked.

"He has a mean right hook," Sokka mumbled.

"You never should have had bending at all," Aang hissed.

"You think I was born this way. You can thank Azulon and Iroh for everything I am. I became the family's contract killer so they could keep their honor and pretend their hands were clean."

Iroh just returned. He came into the room and was surprised to see, "OZAI?"

"Yes it's me you obese tea-monger."

"What the hell are you doing here?"

"Doing what you failed to do time and time again, protecting this family from extinction."

"You call what you did protection?"

"Zuko and Azula are alive right now because of me. Everything they are, I made them to be. While Zuko was off drinking tea and hearing pointless stories, Azula had to protect this palace, this throne from invasions left and right. We do what we do, so you idiots could sleep at night. While you close your eyes and pretend you can do no wrong, we live in the nightmares we instilled in other people, so they wouldn't attack you while you rested."

"What in the spirits name is he talking about?" Sokka questioned.

"Azulon ran this country with an iron fist," Ozai started to explain. "People respected his power, but many people hated him. He would get assassination attempts like clockwork: poison daggers, rogue imperial firebenders, poisoned food, it all happened at one point or another.

While Iroh was in the Earth Kingdom, conquering villages while his men raped, pillaged and burned everything in their wake, I got the task of watching Azulon's blindside, killing those who tried to kill him, torturing suspects for information.

Everything I learned, I knew because he showed me. He made me a monster, so that Iroh could be his perfect heir. Why should he have to get his hands dirty or look out for himself when I got mine dirty for him?

Iroh had only one job when he came home. It was to design the security plan so that the palace would be safer. He left for Ba Sing Se and three days later, Azula got kidnapped."

Iroh's eyes got big. "What?" No one had ever told him.

"Yeah, she was eight years old and she was lured away by the servants who would bring her snacks in the afternoon. She was taken by savages from the South, and she was tortured for days.

The royal guards, imperial firebenders and any military man who was available scoured the city looking for her. I didn't sleep the whole time she was gone. No one could find her. Finally, on the fourth day, she managed to break free and get home. She knocked on my door and by the time I got to it she collapsed in the hallway. I got her to the infirmary and she had bruises everywhere and whipping marks all over her back.

When she came to, she told me that she had been taken by men from the Southern Water Tribe. They bragged about it, telling her that she was just the first one, that her whole family would die just like she was going to die. She refused to talk, to cry, or scream. She just stayed silent. When they went to cut out her tongue, she used the last of her energy to expel a flame from her mouth. It was then that her flame turned blue. She set the first man's face on fire. It practically melted off him."

Katara looked ready to puke. Aang was about to faint, and Sokka found himself wanting to take back every bad thing he ever said about the girl.

"The second guy told her he would cut her open for that. He grabbed a spear, but she set it on fire too before she killed him. She broke out of her chains and got away. She was eight years old and she already learned not to trust those who are close to her and that of course, tribesmen are savages.

To make it even worse, her mother didn't realize the suspects were dead. She demanded to see them and when she saw what Azula had done to get away, she was horrified, not by what Azula had been through, but by what she was capable of. She was terrified of her own child.

For some reason, she thought I had taught Azula how to burn a man to death. I hadn't, not at that age. She screamed at me, demanding to know what I had done to her daughter. She told me that I had made Azula into a monster. Azula had a nightmare that night. When she came to her mother like most little girls do, that's what she heard, her mother screaming about how her daughter was a heartless killer. She never looked at Ursa the same way again.

My family was destroyed, all because Iroh couldn't figure out how to handle a guard rotation. He left a gaping hole, one that was exploited days later.

You may hate me because I'm cruel, but people don't become cruel without getting a dose of it first. In the palace life, there are the killers and the victims. I wanted my daughter to survive, so I taught her how to kill. Zuko was never very good at it, hence why people always try to kill him. You may as well just let us do what we do best, and take out these bastards because Zuko won't be able to. He has the luxury of being soft. I never did, and Azula didn't either."

Iroh couldn't believe that Azulon would keep such a secret from him. When he went to the royal doctor, however, he confirmed that Azula had been kidnapped and tortured.

"Why didn't anyone tell me?"

"Azulon didn't want the palace to look weak. He told everyone to stay quiet and he hanged the remaining culprits in the dark of night."

"All this time, Azula has been …"

"Probably suffering from PTSD. She never got any therapy or anything. If she had, then the psychiatrist would have known what happened to her. I doubt Ozai's militarizing her helped matters at all. The game was rigged against her from the start."

A massive pit formed in Iroh's stomach. It had been easy to see her as the aggressor, as the threat. He never realized that she was in many ways the war's worst victim.

Azula and her brother never heard Ozai's "confession" as it were. They were negotiating their own arrangement as to how to move forward. Zuko was more than hesitant to let Ozai back out, but Azula didn't see how she could be a deep cover without him. If he doesn't come back, they'll grow suspicious."

Zuko had to decide, could he trust Azula working with Ozai? He didn't have much time to decide. He would need to report to camp soon.

"If I find out you're playing me," Zuko hissed, "you'll wish the avatar had killed you in that battle."

Ozai walked out the door, finding his own way back to the base camp.

"I hope you know what you're doing," Mai told him.

"Sometimes, I don't know anything anymore."

* * *

Azula and Zuko agreed that they were going to try to trust each other more, but she wasn't sure what if anything would change after this declaration. She was about to go to bed, when Ty Lee came into her room.

"What's going on?"

"How come you never told me?"

"Never told you what?" Is this about Ozai? It should be obvious why she didn't tell her.

"That you were kidnapped."

"Oh that was ages ago."

"But your flame turned blue!"

"Out of anger."

"But it's still blue."

"I'm always angry. I just got better at keeping it suppressed."

Not content with that answer, Ty Lee pulled Azula into a hug and held her tightly.

The princess knew that Ty Lee wouldn't let her go, and she didn't try to fight her.

* * *

Azula had one month to get ready for her venture into the unknown.

Ty Lee trained with her regularly, wanting her friend to have every advantage when it came to taking on the enemy.

She was surprised that Ty Lee taught her how to chi block. Ty Lee trusted her, despite what everyone else still thought of her.

Azula confessed something of her own. "Ozai wanted me to give him his bending back."

"What?"

"I told him I couldn't do it (at least not permanently), but it was a lie."

"It's reversible?"

"It is, but I wouldn't show him the way."

"Why are you telling me this?"

"Remember when I said trust was a two way street. Well, now we're even."

Azula didn't tell anyone that Ty Lee taught her how to chi block. Ty Lee didn't tell anyone that Azula could energybend. She trusted that Azula would do what she thought was right. She just hoped that it all worked out okay."

* * *

There was a full moon a few nights before Azula had left.

Azula was sitting on a hill watching the full moon.

Sokka was out there too.

She tried to pretend she didn't see him, but eventually, their eyes met.

"Do you always come out during full moons?" Sokka asked her.

"No, but you do."

"I fell in love with Yue and then she had to become the moon spirit."

"Yue was my first friend," Azula confessed.

"What?" They knew each other?

"My grandfather wanted to make a treaty to get out fighting the Northern Water Tribe. Yue was supposed to marry Lu Ten when she was of age. He sent me, along with his delegation, to try and befriend Yue since we were close to the same age. She was very kind. She didn't seem to care that I was a firebender or that I was a princess of a rival nation. We were just kids.

After I was kidnapped, however, they called off the deal. That's when the Southern raids resumed."

That's how his mother got killed. Sokka never believed in revenge because hate just begets hate. Men from his tribe attacked Azula. Azulon attacked his tribe. His mother died. If he had attacked Yon Rha, then his family would have wanted revenge. It never would have stopped.

"I didn't know she died in the siege of the North. Ozai didn't tell me."

"Would you have done things differently if you had known?"

"I don't know, but Ozai didn't want to chance it."

"How can you trust him now if he deceived you then?"

"I don't trust him now. He wanted me to give him his bending back. I wouldn't do it."

"Could you do it?"

"Yes and no. I have the power, but my heart has to be pure. I don't think I could do it in good faith, so I couldn't do it."

"Can anyone energybend?"

"I don't know. I can give firebending, but I can't take it away. I don't even know how it works for the other elements."

"Is that why you were always in the library?"

"Yes. I was kind of hoping that it wasn't possible, so I could just say sorry I can't."

"What did you say?"

"I said I couldn't do it, which is sort of true, but it sort of isn't."

"This palace was built on half truths, wasn't it?"

"You have no idea."

"How do you sleep at night?"

"Sometimes, I don't," she confessed. The moon was having some kind of affect on her. It was like Yue was telling them that they really weren't opposites at all, that their distinctions were superficial.

Sokka closed his eyes and kissed her. He had to know what her ruby red lips tasted like and they were delicious. The stress had all but killed his sex life with Suki. He had become so obsessed with this coup that he had lost track of everything else. Now, he had just lost himself in Azula's mouth.

His body fell onto hers. Her hands made a mess of his warrior wolf tail. They had no fear of getting caught, no hesitation about what they were doing. They became one, and they could not stop, even if they wanted to.

Yue watched as Sokka finally let her go. He had tried to with Suki but his heart had only been halfway vested into his relationship with the warrior. Azula could claim all of his heart because she would never settle for anything less.

Sokka thought lunar pull only happened to waterbenders. He realized, like usual, he was wrong.


	6. Love Hurts

Azula woke up at sunrise. She was naked and her clothes were strewn about. She opened her eyes and realized she had to get out of there before they got caught. She punched him.

"OW!"

"Get up!"

Sokka opened his eyes. He had thought it was a dream, but here he was, naked alongside Azula.

"Get your clothes on!"

She started to dress. He tried to put on his pants but they were too small.

"Those are my pants, dummy!"

"Oops!"

He took them back off and scrambled to get his own pants on. She used her firebending to vault up to her pavilion. Sokka had to run inside. In his scramble to get ready, he forgot his underwear.

No one noticed until Toph and Aang came out to train.

"Someone's underwear is in that bush," he told her.

She went up to it with a stick. "I wonder who was getting nookie last night."

After she had fun beating up her Twinkle Toes, she took the stick with the underwear on it and started approaching people. "Zuko, did you and Mai have fun outside last night."

"EW!" he complained as she waved the stick around. "That is nasty!"

"What's nasty?" Ty Lee wanted to know.

"That!" he pointed.

"Why do you have underwear on a stick?"

"We found it outside."

"Someone was getting nasty."

"I know. Who do you think it was?"

"Sokka and Suki would be my guess."

"Suki wouldn't have sex outside," Zuko insisted.

"I saw them do it before."

"You watched, perv!" Toph teased.

"Like you don't watch with your feet."

"I don't mean to. People just do stuff outside."

Toph asked Azula about the underwear and she suggested it was the gardener "I know that he's doing one of the servants."

"Aw, that's not as much fun!"

Azula was relieved that the deception worked.

Sokka didn't think anything of his missing underwear until Toph announced it at dinner. Luckily, they were eating on a wooden floor.

"Tell me, you didn't bring that nasty underwear to dinner."

"Nope. It's a flag outside!"

"Why?" Suki questioned.

"Because someone left it in a bush."

"Who would just do it outside?" Katara frowned.

Azula found it amusing. Oh if she only knew the truth about her brother.

Sokka felt guilty about what he had done, but he didn't regret it. He needed Azula, even if it was only for that one night.

She would be leaving soon, and then it would be like it never happened, right?

They acted normally around each other. It wasn't until the night she was leaving when he went to her room. She was packing.

"Are you nervous?" he asked her. He was nervous.

"I'm calm right now," but I'm sure that will change once I get there.

"I don't want you to go," he admitted.

"What?"

"I know you have to, but I'd rather you didn't."

"I doubt Suki would want me to stay."

He silenced her with a passionate kiss. "I've never felt this with anyone else."

Azula didn't even ask about Yue. She wouldn't compete against her dead friend.

"Neither have I."

"So what do we do now?"

"No, we put our feelings on hold while we deal with this war. If we both survive it, then maybe we have a shot."

Come sunrise the next day, Azula was gone. She went to whatever meeting place her father had picked for her and she was going into the unknown.

All Sokka could do was wait.

* * *

"So how do you want to play this?" Ozai said.

"I think we should act as if we are all on the same front for the first month, try to make our own allies in the second month, see if we can convince Quyen to have us battle for the job in the last month and when we're supposed to be trying to kill each other for the throne, we turn on him and take out our biggest threats."

"You want us to have an agni kai."

"I can tell them that I'm giving you back your bending. Once they see you bend, you can legitimize your own claim for the thrown and the internal struggle will ignite."

"But it's only temporary."

"They don't have to know that."

Ozai grinned. "I think this is going to be fun."

"Me too."

* * *

While Ozai and Azula headed into the wilderness, team Avatar had another meeting.

It wasn't surprising that they wanted to regroup now that Azula was out of the palace for the foreseeable future.

Sokka, however, was no longer the lead strategist. His mind seemed to be elsewhere.

Zuko started. "Let's make sure we're all on the same page here. I'm going to summarize what we know and if someone disagrees or wants to add something, pipe in."

People nodded.

"Okay, in April, Azula started getting correspondence from an unnamed informant, who we now know is Chan. She didn't tell anyone else at the time."

Not everyone knew about the April letters. Zuko and Azula had a long talk after Ozai left. "In May, she had a face to face encounter with a different informant, aka, Ozai who told her that he would be broken out regardless of what I did. It was then that she told me about this group, who was in it as far as she knew and that there would be an escape attempt.

Our attempts to contain him failed and in June, Ozai requested that Azula come to meet him where he explained that he thought the Defenders of Sozin were selling her false promises, that they would support her push for the throne, but once she got it, Quyen would kill her and seek to take her place.

In September, she got a letter from Chan asking her to come meet the boss. As far as Quyen knows, Azula and Ozai had no contact with each other and she only learned of the group in September. She met with Quyen where she encouraged him to keep working on this coup. In December, she brought Ozai here and revealed that he had been her most influential informant. Now, they are on their way back to this group where there is supposed to be an attack on the crown and an attempt on my life in April.

Did I miss anything?"

No one offered any information. Azula's vacation to Lo and Li had been left out.

"Okay, so what do we do now?"

Mai started. "We know they have some of the world's best archers and each member of the rough rhinos has a different method of attack. We should be prepared for a variety of weapons, firebending, and archery at a minimum."

"Also a metalbender," Aang added. "They must have had one to pull off the prison break."

"Which means all of us who fight with metal weapons should be careful," Suki added.

"We also need to be weary of lightening," Katara added. "Who knows how many of them can throw it?"

"Probably not very many," Zuko said. "I still can't do it. Prepare for the worst, but realistically, Azula will be the only one who could throw it other than Iroh."

"Can she redirect it?" Aang questioned.

Zuko shrugged. "I didn't teach her, but she could have found a way. She was doing all that research that she never really told me what it was about."

Sokka and Ty Lee didn't speak up.

"Also, lightening plus metal can be really dangerous," Toph added. "Azula and I learned that the hard way sparring. We both almost died."

"I still can't believe you fight her for fun," Katara said.

"I ain't afraid of Princess Zappy," Toph said. "She's actually kind of fun, once she gets over herself a bit."

"We should also think about our own assets," Aang added.

"You pervert," Toph teased.

"He didn't mean _those_ assets," Ty Lee clarified, although Toph was looking pretty good right now.

"To our disposal we have all four elements, the avatar state, sword "fighting, chi blocking, knife throwing, and energybending if it comes to that," Aang said, "but I'd rather not do that again."

"They wouldn't have any waterbenders," Katara said.

"Unless they break out Hama," Sokka retorted before he thought about it.

"Don't even suggest that! They might do it," Katara hissed.

"Do they even know who she is?" Aang questioned.

"Who's Hama?" Mai asked.

"This crazy bloodbender who made Katara learn on the full moon," Aang told them.

"Bloodbending is real?" Ty Lee was scared.

"Bloodbending, metalbending, lightening, each element has something really aggressive."

"Airbending is no different," Aang said. "You could make razors out of the wind or just put someone in a cyclone. They prohibited those methods in my time, but it wouldn't require a new skill to learn, like metalbending."

"Do we have any idea of a head count?" Toph asked.

Zuko shook his head. "Azula didn't know. If Ozai knew, he didn't tell her. She just thinks it's a lot, whatever that is."

When Azula did get to the bunker, she was not expecting as many people to be there. There were at least fifty men there.

"Is this everybody?"

"No but we wanted to give you a proper welcome," Qiu told her. "We've been preparing this for some time."

"Of course."

She met Colonel Mongke and various other characters she had only heard of from the war.

It wasn't long until she started getting questions about her firebending.

"Are you ready to take on your brother?" one of the men questioned.

"Absolutely. I did beat him then. I just didn't expect the waterbender to be such a problem."

"I never heard of an agni kai against two different people."

"Let's just say, Zuko knew he'd lose on his own."

"If you were up for it, Princess, I would love to spar you," Mongke offered.

"Why not?"

They went out to the nearest clearing. When they moved, people followed them to see how formidable two of their best firebenders were.

Mongke had lost to Zuko when they fought two years before. He had been training a lot since then and he wondered how he stacked up against Zuko's prodigal sister.

He had an aggressive style. He threw a fireball right at her head, and she quickly evaded it by sliding to her left. He sent two more blasts her way, and she pivoted appropriately.

Now it was her turn. She threw a fire whip that forced him to jump out of the way. She was small but her flame was hot and her range was superior. She sent blasts to his feet, making him jump out of the way and then a firewall to force him into a corner.

He knew when he was defeated, and he bowed.

"You're range is unbelievable."

"Cross-training. I found that using some of my training time for running was more productive than using it all to firebend."

"Well, I must admit. Zuko's in trouble."

"Oh yes he is."

Azula quickly earned some fans. Mongke had been running his mouth for months, and she put a stop to it summarily.

When people asked Ozai if Azula was mentally sound, he said that her mind was sharp and her meltdown was unfortunate but not reflective of her capacity as a leader. "Of course, I will be there to advise her as she needs me, but I don't need to hover over her. She has proven quite capable in these past few months. Zuko thinks she's on a spiritual retreat."

They all laughed.

Chan saw Azula for the first time in over two years. Sure, she was crazy the last time he had seen her, but she was beautiful, and she had this warmness to her that she didn't have before. Would he have a chance if they made it out of here alive?

It wasn't until that night when she had a one on one chat with Quyen.

"I can see you made quite an impression."

"I wanted to make sure they knew that I was better than ever."

"I don't wish to be too intrusive," he said in a slightly haughty tone, "but what happened two years ago?"

Azula refused to give him her real diagnosis. It could be ammunition. "My flame is blue because my chi burns hotter than other firebenders. The last person with a blue flame had it over 100 years ago and she also experienced temporary insanity on Sozin's Comet. The doctors think I became drunk with power. My mind couldn't handle it."

"You actually became overloaded with power."

"I did, and I won't live for another 100 years, so I should be fine."

He laughed at her little joke. "Well, as long as you are healthy."

"I am."

The story Azula spun him was actually the doctor's first theory when she got admitted into the asylum. The literature would reveal the events of the previous Sozin's Comet.

She had one more lie to file away in her mind.

Ty Lee and Sokka both missed Azula. They knew how formidable she was, but she was still alone, neither of them considered Ozai a true ally, in a dangerous situation. Things could get out of their control and they wouldn't even know where to look for her.

Both of them kept their concerns about Azula quiet. Sokka had obvious reasons. They had butted heads most of the time. It would look too suspicious if he suddenly missed her.

Ty Lee didn't want to reveal what she and Azula had shared with each other before she left. She knew the others would freak if they knew of Azula's talent or of Ozai's expectations of her. She just had to hope that Azula did the right thing and didn't get in too much trouble for it.

When Sokka watched the stars at night, all he could see was the view he had when Azula pushed him on the grass and climbed on top of him. He had been selfish that night, claiming her innocence for himself, but he had to have her. She ignited this fire that he never had before, on he didn't think was possible. The first moment he saw her, she made him feel something he couldn't identify. He decided it was fear since she threw blue fire at him immediately afterwards, but it was love. He loved her from the moment he saw her, but he didn't know love could feel that way, so he assumed it fear.

With Yue, he wanted to protect her. He loved her like a knight loves his princess. With Azula, it's different. There's a push back. She's just as stubborn as he is; she has the same pride, the same valor as she defends her crown. They are more the same than he and Yue were. Yue was flawless, like a diamond. Azula's flaws were what made her so desirable.

And where was Suki in all of this, sweet Suki who first showed him how tough women really can be, not that the women at home aren't tough, but she was a warrior. She trapped him like a fool. She made him smile. Her kisses were warm and friendly.

He cared for her greatly, but he didn't love her, not the way he loved Azula. It was unfair of him to keep her when he longed for another. He didn't deserve her after he ravished Azula in the moonlight. He couldn't keep lying to her. Every kiss, every whisper in her ear was a lie. He had to confess. He would not be any more dishonorable than he had already been.

* * *

The next night, he went to her door and said asked her to join him for a walk in the garden.

She smiled, hoping they would be able to enjoy their alone time together.

The flowers were beautiful. Ursa had planted them herself, but was the last thing on his mind. Sokka told Suki that he was sorry. He should have been a better boyfriend.

She told him not to worry. "I know you've been stressed from the coup. So have I. I haven't been there for you the way I used to be." When they first learn Ozai had escaped, they had pity sex as Suki tried to console him. The sex dwindled away over the past eight months, and Suki thought bringing it back would fix everything. She was wrong.

"No," he said harshly. She looked concerned. "I mean I have wronged you, not just by being distracted or disappointed in myself. I don't deserve your love."

"How could you say that? Who better to deserve me than the man who saved me? When Azula kept me in that horrible prison, she said I'd never see you again, but she was wrong, and I don't care what she went through as a child, she had no right to treat people the way she did!"

Sokka didn't want to talk about her of all people, especially not her past. "I don't love you, not the way you need me to."

"What?" she yelped.

"I will always care about you as a person, but my heart belongs to another, and it's not right for me to keep you away from whatever man out there loves you more than the stars are bright in the night sky."

"How can you love someone else?" she cried.

"I didn't mean for this to happen. It was like a wave just hit me. As soon as I knew, it felt like I had always known, but was too dumb to put it all together. It feels like I have always loved her."

"Did you cheat on me?"

He couldn't lie, but he couldn't tell her how they made love repeatedly in the grass, how he avoided her for days, so she wouldn't see the scratches that Azula had left. He couldn't tell her that he claimed another woman like he had claimed her two years before. "I kissed her."

Suki hit him hard in the face. Sokka didn't try to stop her. She deserved that much.

"You bastard!"

"I don't deserve you Suki. This wasn't your fault."

"I know that you idiot! Who is she?"

"I can't tell you that."

"WHY NOT?"

"Because you'll try to fight her, and it was my actions. I kissed her. She doesn't deserve your wrath."

"Where is she?"

"She's not here," Sokka said honestly.

"I'll find out someday."

"And when you do, I hope you're realize that this was all my fault. I don't regret falling in love, but I should have told you first. You deserved at least that much."

She ran off crying. Sokka felt like shit. He should, but he thought he had done the right thing by confessing. Had he been wrong? He was walking back to his room when Aang saw his face. He had been in the garden with Katara.

"Are you alright?" Aang asked Sokka, seeing a bruise forming on his face.

He nodded weakly. "I'm going to head in my room."

Aang kissed his girlfriend and then said, "I'll meet you here in a few minutes. I think something's off with him."

Katara understood. It was likely boy stuff and Aang has to help everyone. She wished sometimes, he could just be hers, but it was the fate of loving the Avatar.

Aang knocked on Sokka's door. "Just let me heal your face. Katara will flip if she sees that."

He had a point. Sokka let him in the room. "I fucked up man."

"Well, I can see that." Aang took some water and began to heal him. "What did you do?"

"I cheated on Suki," he said bluntly.

Aang wasn't expecting that. "Cheated like in kissed?"

"It started with a kiss, but I had my way with another woman."

"Oh!" Aang had not yet done that with Katara although he did learn how to make her happy during the full moon.

"To make it even worse, it was her first time. I had no right to take her when I was with another, but I did it anyway."

"Why?" Aang wasn't sure if he was asking why Sokka did this or why he was confessing.

"I fell in love. It was like instantaneous. I just had to have her and I did."

"Does she love you?"

"I think she does. She didn't say those exact words, but she told me that she has never felt this way about anyone else."

"You shouldn't have hurt Suki the way you did, but if you didn't love her, then you were right to end it. Imagine that you didn't cheat on her and you stayed out of loyalty, your heart would have been cheating on her every day. In the end, I think that would have been worse."

"Should I have told Suki? I felt she deserved an explanation, but I feel like I hurt her so much more instead of just saying I wanted to be with someone else."

Aang wasn't sure. "It would have been another lie if you had left that part out, but I can't say lying would have been totally wrong if it had spared her feelings."

"Well, I kind of did that too."

"What?"

"I told her about the kiss but not about the sex."

"Oh." She punched him over a kiss. "I don't think it would be wise to tell her that now."

"I wish I knew what to do."

"I think you just have to give Suki space to heal. You can't do anything else."

Sokka nodded. "Thanks."

"I should go back to Katara before she freaks or something."

"I don't know how you do it," Sokka teased.

Aang airbended himself down to the garden.

"What did my brother do this time?"

"He and Suki broke up," Aang said, not revealing anything else.

"What?" She thought they were perfect for each other.

"I didn't expect it either, but it wasn't working. Suki was hurt when he ended it. He was too, but it was a different kind."

"Then why did he do it?"

"People deserve to be loved with one's whole heart. If he loved her as a friend, but didn't have the romantic feelings anymore, it would have been unfair to give her only half. He had to leave so she could have someone to love her fully."

"Do you think that's always true?" Katara asked him. "What if half of the heart feels pretty good?"

"It might feel better than nothing, but it will never be as good as everything and if he cares about her, then he wants her to have everything, even if it's with another."

Katara wondered if she could give Aang her whole heart of if he could give her all of his. She felt bad about breaking up with him just because of an idea he planted in her head. She needed to think more.

* * *

Ty Lee didn't expect Suki to come back after leaving with Sokka. She figured they would get a much-needed romp in, but she came back in tears.

"What's wrong, Honey?"

"He dumped me!"

"What?" The former acrobat hugged her friend, letting her cry on her shoulder as she tried to breathe again.

"And the asshole cheated on me!"

"No way!"

"He told me he loved another girl!"

"Well, I be she's a nasty tramp with an STD!"

"He won't tell me who she is!"

"Well, I'll chi block her for you!"

"You're the best Ty!"

* * *

Azula wondered if Sokka was thinking of her right now. She hoped he wasn't just romping around with Suki until she got back. She couldn't really lay claim to a boy who was taken, but damn it, her heart wanted him. She wasn't sure if she could fall in love. She thought she had been too broken, after her kidnapping and the war. She didn't think she could let a man, or even a woman, into her heart after being abandoned by everyone in her life and falling into such darkness.

Who knew it would be a foolish warrior who claimed her, who ravished her like she was the only woman in the world, who made it clear that she was unlike any other woman in his past? Her father would kill her if he knew. Actually, he'd kill Sokka for defiling his perfect daughter. Luckily, he had condoms that night. They had used them all. She did not need a bastard right now. It would likely get her killed.

He would want children. She would have to bear him an heir as his wife. She knew she'd have an heir, but she thought it would be for the Fire Nation, her nation, but she loved her country like he loved his tribe. Would she have to eat whale fat and wear fluffy coats? The idea was almost repulsive, but then again, it had been beautiful when she visited the Northern Water Tribe. The snow had been fun to play in. She needed to stop fantasizing about all of this.

It wasn't surprising when Sokka took a few days off. He wanted to give Suki her space and since she worked here, he had to be the one to leave. Aang flew him to Ember Island, so he could stay at Zuko's vacation house.

It wasn't until dinner that the others noticed his absence.

"Where's Sokka?" Zuko questioned.

"Um he went on vacation," Aang told him.

"Who is he? Azula!" Going on random vacations, not telling anybody.

"He needed to clear his head," Aang told him.

"He needs a kick in the balls!" Ty Lee declared.

"What?" Mai questioned. That doesn't sound like Ty Lee at all.

Suki looked down at her food. She didn't want to talk about it.

"Did he do something?" Zuko questioned.

Suki didn't want to talk about it in front of everyone.

"Maybe we should discuss this later," Mai whispered.

* * *

After the meal, Zuko suggested they have drinks in the lounge. When Suki didn't join them, Zuko went to see what was wrong.

"If Sokka did anything to you, I will gladly punch him."

"I already punched him," Suki admitted.

"He must really be in the dog house."

"We broke up."

"I'm sorry to hear that."

"He cheated on me!"

"WHAT?" Zuko was ready to go kill him, but then Suki started to cry. He just held her as she cried.

* * *

Ty Lee told Mai what Suki had told her the night before.

"No wonder he ran off like a punk!" My responded.

"I didn't think he'd do anything like that, but he says he's in love."

"Maybe she was easy."

"He said they only kissed."

"Maybe they did it, and he wanted to spare her feelings."

"Then why admit to cheating?"

"Maybe he thought he should only lie a little. Who knows? It's Sokka!"

"I admit I thought he was cute, but I would never do that to Suki."

"I know."

* * *

Katara and Aang sat awkwardly together. Things had changed ever since their conversation last night over Sokka and Suki. He wondered if he just ended his relationship, but neither of them could say the words.

Toph was drinking away. "You all are so boring!" she declared as she drank her whiskey sour. "First Zappy left, then Snoozles, before I know it I'll be trapped with Sugar Queen and she'll put the booze somewhere I can't reach it!"

"Maybe I should," Katara retorted. "It's not very becoming of you to drink like a sailor."

"Aw, am I looking to crass, kiss my ass!"

She shook her butt at Katara, making Aang laugh. "You'll never tame her," Aang told Katara. "She's too free. She could have been an airbender with her spirit."

"LIES! I am a woman of Earth. I would never betray it for your fancy dance moves."

"You'd be a horrible airbender on second thought. You can't see."

"Oh make fun of the blind girl."

"Well, she's kind of asking for it."

"Maybe you're asking for a knuckle sandwich!"

* * *

Ozai saw the way Chan looked at Azula. He also noticed that Azula hadn't given him a second glance. For a girl so intelligent, she sure couldn't tell when a man was interested in her. Well, it was likely better that way; he didn't need any fool trying to defile his Princess.

He wished for her to have more than the role of the family assassin, but maybe by making her like him, he cast her fate. He didn't know he would have to raise his kids. When he married Ursa, he thought she would do it, but she only kept room in her heart for Zuko.

No matter how much of a disappointment he was, she loved him. Azula was marred by tragedy, and Ursa rejected her. It made no sense. Azula did nothing to deserve what happened to her, but Ursa could only see death. So what if they died? If Ozai got a coin for every death he caused, he'd be so rich. Maybe he should have charged Azulon, smug bastard! He thought he could use Ozai as his killing machine just to keep the throne nice and clean for Iroh.

Ozai may have lost his crown, but his weasel brother never had it and he never will! Ozai could at least take some solace in that. If Ursa ever came home, she'd see what happened to their son. He thought it Ursa's fault instead of his. If she hadn't taught him to be weak, then he would have stood up and fought. Azula would have fought. She might have even won. She was truly an heir to be proud of. He only wished that he could have been there to save her from those savages. She learned how to save herself, but it came at the price of her own innocence and possibly her own sanity.

He wondered how much would have changed if he could change that one moment. Ursa would have loved her. She never would have come to Ozai for guidance. He never would have turned Azula into what he used to be. She wouldn't be her brother's slayer.

Older brothers are supposed to protect the younger sibling. Neither Iroh nor Zuko could ever do that. They just left them to defend themselves. This time it would be different. Ozai wouldn't let Azula down this time. She would make it out alive, even if he didn't. He would make sure of that. He didn't even think losing his bending was enough of a penalty for all he had done in the world, but dying for Azula, now that would be honorable.

* * *

Sokka enjoyed Ember Island. It was quiet right now since it was winter, but the water wasn't too cold and the food was good. He felt bad for what he did to Suki, but he felt at peace with it now. He couldn't undo it and even if he could, he wouldn't. That moment was too perfect. Azula was too beautiful.

He saw every scar on her when he took off her clothes. Everyone had a story. Everyone explained how she was so strong, but she still gave herself to him, she still let him overtake her. She could have killed him with a wave of her fingers, but instead she arched her back and let him have her.

He was too damn lucky to ever give that up.


	7. Allies and Angry People

February 103AG

Azula and Ozai made a point to train together every morning. They wanted to make it seem like they had a united front and they wanted everyone to know that they were the best of the bunch. Once their authority seemed well, undeniable, she and Ozai decided to move onto the next phase of the plan, making individual friends. Azula decided to start with Chan.

"Did Zuko ever pay for your house?" she asked him.

He snorted. "Eventually, but only after my dad made a scene about it."

"That night was so ridiculous. Sometimes, I wonder how I was once friends with Mai and Ty Lee."

"They hardly sound like the type of friends you would want to keep."

"They aren't," and that's why Azula loved them.

He asked her if she would restart the war. Azula shook her head.

"It would cost too much to reform the military and try and get back all of the land Zuko gave away. We'd be better off rebuilding for the future."

"Do you think we can do that will all of the sanctions?" That's all his father ever talked about.

"The Fire Nation is still an economic powerhouse. We are more industrialized; we can make goods better and cheaper than anyone else. Zuko makes his trade deals to make friends. I make them to make money. Money can buy better friends."

Chan laughed. "A prosperous nation sounds nice."

"Doesn't it?"

Chan introduced her to the younger members of the group. They favored Azula over Ozai. He seemed too authoritative, too much like their parents and their ways. One of them looked familiar, but she didn't know why. "Have we met before?"

He shrugged. "I think I would have remembered Princess."

"You look familiar, and I don't know why."

"Perhaps you saw my father, Piando."

"Maybe, but I only know him by reputation. He's one of my uncle's friends or whatever."

"I'm surprised the White Lotus hasn't made an appearance yet, with Ozai being gone for so long."

"Well it's their nature to show up for the last fight regardless of what they were doing for the rest of the war," Azula said bitterly.

"To think the Dragon of the West turned into such a sucker."

"I look forward to banishing him from the nation myself."

* * *

While Azula made friends, Ozai made some too. He and Mongke discussed their current state of affairs.

"I must say that you trained Azula very well."

"She has the skill of being able to train for long periods of time. It's a rare skill, but it means she can keep getting better and better."

"She is, however, only 17. Do you worry that she is too young?"

Ozai shook his head. "I plan on being available to her. She will pardon me once she has been coronated, and I will be able to advise her as needed."

"She hardly seems like one who likes to be controlled."

"I think of it more like guidance, strict guidance."

While Ozai made assurances that he would control the country, Azula promised the opposite to the younger crowd, causing a rift between them that Quyen thought he could capitalize on.

"They're so stupid," he told Qiu. "All we need is for them to get into it and we'll conquer them both while they're distracted."

Qiu never counted his komodo chickens before they hatched, but he nodded in agreement. He wondered if Azula was smarter than Quyen was giving her credit for.

* * *

Zuko had not heard from Azula yet. She said she would write to him in February and again in March to keep him updated, but she wanted to spend at least a month focusing on the group before she contacted him. She needed to learn their patterns and make sure that they weren't spying on her. She had to gain their trust before she could break it.

He didn't know when she would write, but he had hoped it would be sooner rather than later. They needed good news right now.

The warriors were all giving Sokka the cold shoulder, which was to be expected but it caused unnecessary fighting, like when they tried to kick him out of the training grounds even though they were for all.

To make matters worse, things got personal when one of the girls insulted Katara for having a cretin for a brother. Katara retaliated by freezing the girl's feet to the ground. Suki had to chip the ice away with her sword since Katara refused to release her without an apology, and Zuko got sick of the fighting.

"You're the avatar," he said to Aang. "Can't you keep the peace?"

"I wish I could work miracles," Aang told him, "but I can't heal matters of the heart." He had given his best guidance to Sokka, but Suki was another story. She had the power to call back her girls, but she seemed content with letting them create drama after drama.

He couldn't fix her leadership style.

Toph thought this was all stupid. "So he kissed another girl." She went up to Aang and pecked him on the lips. "Gonna kill me Sugar Queen?"

Aang turned beet red. He didn't expect to ever taste her lips.

Katara rolled her eyes. "No, but I know you were just trying to make me mad. If you actually tried to steal him from me, I'd kick your butt."

"Like to see you try."

"Wouldn't you like to _see_?" Aang offered.

"Oh Twinkle Toes, you gonna get it!" They started earthbending at each other, forgetting the drama that Toph had been criticizing before.

Katara left them to it.

Mai asked Zuko what he was going to do to get the situation under control.

"I can't make Suki forgive him."

"Who cares if she forgives him?" Mai retorted. "She has a job to protect this palace and she's letting her warriors act amok because she's upset. It's inappropriate and it's been a month. She needs to tell her girls to act like this is a job and not a night club!"

"So she can stay mad all she wants as long as she acts her own age."

"YES!"

Zuko tried to explain this to Suki, but she started arguing with him. "Of course you would take Sokka's side. Bros before hoes right!"

"No. He was totally wrong, but this isn't about him," Zuko insisted. "Katara didn't do anything and she can't be a target because she's related to him. Mai's already fed up, and she's not involved either. If you want to hate him with every last breath, it's your business, but I can't have your warriors acting like they want to start a catfight every day."

Suki relented. "I'll talk to them."

"Thank you. That's all I ask and maybe I'll give Sokka a good knuckle sandwich."

He kissed her forehead before he left. He hadn't thought anything of it, but he didn't kiss anyone else's forehead.

* * *

When Suki told her girls that they had to ease up, they all started yelling "chicks before dicks!" She had to explain that, "this isn't about who Zuko likes better. It's about the palace. We're supposed to keep things under control. We can't do that if we're fighting Sokka on everything. Unfortunately, we're stuck with him until this coup thing blows over. Let's just try to make the best of it."

She wasn't even as mad as she had been initially. He gave her space. He didn't try to make excuses for himself. He wasn't flaunting around whoever this whore was. She better stay gone. If she sets foot in this palace!

The physical confrontations stopped, but the name-calling and the finger pointing continued. Zuko was ready to settle for that, but eventually, during dinner, Mai told them, "I will put you all on time out if you don't grow up!"

The warriors said she lacked sisterly solidarity, and she called them all little schoolgirls. "He dumped her. He was a dick before he dumped her. It has nothing to do with you. Stop acting like he broke into your houses and murdered your families. You're looking more like geisha whores then you are warriors!"

OOH! Toph even gaped at her comment and it was a full-blown fight. One of the girls tried to chi block Mai and Katara ended up freezing a weight to her wrist.

Aang separated people with airbending, only for them to throw food, making a huge mess. Toph ducked for cover, as she couldn't see on the wood very well.

Sokka was ready to throw his boomerang at whatever girl had a sword drawn against his sister.

"ENOUGH!" Zuko bellowed, making everyone stop. "This is absurd. This is why you all have to let go of the past. This cannot go on any longer. Sokka, tell her you're sorry."

"I already did!"

Zuko glared like he was going to burn him.

Sokka shook his head. "Suki, I'm sorry for being a jerk and for everything I did."

"Suki, accept his apology."

"You can't make me."

Zuko stared her down.

"I forgive you," she said through gritted teeth.

"Now that is the last I want to see anyone fighting over whatever misdeeds Sokka committed. If you want to seethe, do it internally!"

After dinner, the warriors quickly made their exit. Ty Lee was split. She loved her girls, but Mai was her girl too!

"Are you okay?" Ty Lee asked Mai afterwards.

"I'm fine. I just got sick of all the drama!"

"Me too!" Katara told her. "I know my brother's a bonehead. He was born that way, but it's been a month! He can't be in the doghouse forever. He'll have a training accident."

Mai burst out laughing, which took Ty Lee by surprise because it was so rare. "Are you drunk?" she asked Katara.

"No, but I should be. Drinks in my room?"

"Yes!"

The two girls went off. Ty Lee went to get some air. She needed a break from all this tension.

* * *

Aang laughed at Toph. "You got food in your hair!"

"Make fun of the blind girl."

"You've never been the blind girl to me."

"Well you're cheesy!"

"Come on, let me wash your hair."

He took her to the bathroom and used his waterbending to keep the soapy suds out of her eyes. He massaged her scalp, which made her purr for him and then he dried her hair with his airbending and his firebending.

"Aren't you a stylist?"

"If I weren't bald, I'd have great hair!"

"Nice one Twinkle Toes."

"Do you think they'll hate Sokka forever."

"No one can hate him forever, even if he did get his dick wet somewhere else."

"Toph!" He had never even heard that saying before.

"I didn't think he had it in him, but if it's love, you can't really stop it."

"That's what I thought."

"How do you know if you're in love?" she asked Aang.

"I don't know how to answer that."

"Don't you love Sugar Queen?"

"I do, but I didn't get a magic light going off in my head. I don't know how to explain it to anyone else. I think it feels different for everyone else."

"What does it feel like to you?"

"She makes me feel warm when I'm cold."

"She's a blanket?"

"She always seems to be what I need at the time."

"She sounds like a mother."

"I've never had a mother."

"Maybe that's why you love her?"

Aang didn't like that thought. "Can we not tell this to her? I'd rather not be seen as having a complex?"

"Like Zuko. Mai says he talks about his mother after sex."

"EW! Really?"

"I heard her complaining to Ty Lee once."

"Were you eavesdropping?"

"Always TT!"

* * *

Zuko went to talk to Suki. "I'm sorry for putting you on the spot like that, but it was chaos."

"I think I get it," she said. "I told the girls to calm down, but they only sort of listened to me."

"You're going to find an awesome guy, one who feels stomach pain when you're not there."

"Aw, that's sweet, but I hope he doesn't think I'm a sandwich."

Zuko laughed.

"Is that how you feel when Mai's not around?"

Zuko lied and said it was. He realized it was odd to describe a love that he didn't actually feel.

"She's a lucky girl."

"I'm lucky too." He thought that was true, well mostly.

"Although I'd rather not be called a geisha whore again."

"To be fair, she was referring to your warriors and not you, but since it's the same uniform, that argument only goes so far."

"She made me think of Azula when she started going on about Kyoshi's whores."

"Oh she always lies."

"But that wasn't a lie. I asked Aang about it and it was true."

Zuko turned red. "I never knew that. Does that mean you all?"

"No you pervert, we don't all pleasure Aang."

"I was going to say each other, which would be way hotter!"

"You're a cow pig," she shoved him.

"I'm okay with that."

"Is Mai?"

"She puts up with me."

"Maybe she should get a commendation for it.

Sokka was on the roof. He didn't mean to cause so much trouble, but Azula was worth it.

Ty Lee was looking at him. She wasn't sure why she went to sit next to him, but she did.

"Are you going to shove me?"

"No. I might have been mad at you, but I wouldn't hurt you."

"I didn't want to hurt Suki. I know that I did, and it was all my fault, but I didn't mean for it to happen."

"So your lips fell on the other girl."

"Well, I can't really say that I fell."

"I was just teasing. How do you know?"

"How do I know what?"

"That you really love this girl. You thought you loved Suki."

"It's different. I saw her, and she was the only girl in the world. Nothing else mattered. I had to kiss her. It was like I'd erupt if I didn't, and once I did, I couldn't stop. It was like I had loved her my whole life and just figured it out in that very moment."

"And you never felt that with Suki."

"No."

"Does she change how you felt about Yue?"

"She gave me perspective. I wanted to protect Yue, but I couldn't in the end. I was more like a knight or a guard than her actual lover. She was beautiful, gorgeous even, but she was too perfect, like fresh snow. I'm flawed and I needed someone who could accept my flaws, someone who's flaws I could accept. I needed someone who would challenge me, who would fight back and I couldn't see Yue fighting me on anything. It's almost fitting that she's a spirit because I don't thinks he was ever made for this Earth."

That might have been the deepest thing Ty Lee heard. "Well, whoever this mystery girl is, you better treat her like a Queen."

"I will."

"Suki will forgive you, eventually. It's too hard to stay angry for long periods of time. It hurts inside."

If Sokka loved this girl like he said he did, then they belonged together.

* * *

Azula finally wrote to her brother. The letter came to him with is breakfast.

Right now, we are trying to divide the group to get it as disjointed as possible. Ozai is convincing the older members that he will be effectively running the country after the coup and I am convincing them the opposite.

So far, I have counted 40 men in the coup, not counting Ozai or myself. We know that they have some members of the royal guard who are sympathetic to them, so they expect to be able to storm the palace and then prevent the Avatar and his friends from getting to you in time.

No one has said who these guards are, but check the family trees of all of them. I think you will find a connection by blood or marriage to one of the known members. Pay attention to anyone from mere servants to your own government. Judgment Day is soon.

So she's safe. We have at least 40 people to deal with and we should check the family trees. He was about to put the letter away when he saw something in the light. He held up the paper to a flame and saw she had written names on the back in invisible ink. She managed to tell him who these members were.

He wrote down the names and gathered the team.

"Azula has made contact and she has a list of names for us," he told them.

Mai said she would go to city hall and start pulling family trees. She took Zuko's palanquin.

"We should also look for their military records," Sokka added. He decided to go with her.

Suki eyed them suspiciously. Was Mai the slut all along?

Ty Lee denied it. "She wouldn't cheat on Zuko, and she wouldn't do that to you either."

"You're positive."

"I know Mai. She's nothing if not loyal. She almost died for Zuko. Do you think she'd just give it all up to get some dark chocolate?"

"What?"

"Sorry. Water Tribe men are kind of fetishized here."

"Dark chocolate?"

"It's just a saying."

Suki wondered if Mai had some cravings last month.

The records were heavy. They had a lot of men to check.

"Thanks for coming with me," Mai said to Sokka.

"I should thank you. I needed to escape the warriors."

"They're still pissed."

"Ty Lee was able to forgive me."

"Ty Lee can forgive anyone."

"I know I was wrong, but I thought confessing would be better than just dumping her with no explanation. Maybe I was dumb to do that."

Mai shook her head. "You told her the truth. She deserved that much. You aren't responsible for her bratty friends."

"When you called them geisha whores, I just knew it was going to go down."

"I had it. They were acting like you committed murder, over a kiss!"

"Makes me glad I lied about that."

Mai's mouth opened wide.

"Oops."

"You fucked her didn't you?"

"Honestly, the best nookie of my life."

"I hope my best has yet to come."

"Haha, come!"

Mai rolled her eyes.

"Is Zuko taking care of business?"

"Lately, he's been too stressed."

"Sometimes the stress makes it hotter."

"Not him. He curls in a ball and needs his mama!"

"Oh!"

"He always brings up the search for her after sex. I feel like he's just imagining Ursa when we do it."

"EW!" Sokka told her.

"Does your girl have daddy issues?"

"What girl doesn't?" he quipped. "To be fair, she didn't mention anything weird afterwards. She just fell asleep."

"Oh, I want to trade."

"Oh no, I'm not doing Zuko."

"I bet he'd bottom."

Sokka laughed. "Have you ever dished it to him?"

"How?"

"Glass or ivory toys."

"No, but that's an amazing mental image."

"I've never tried it myself, but some guys swear it's awesome."

Mai gasped.

"The things you learn when planning an invasion."

Mai found herself laughing again. Something about these water tribe people. They're so easy going compared to Fire Nation. "So about this broad you banged, do you love her?"

"So much it drives me crazy."

"Where is she?"

"She had to go to work. She's not in town."

Mai didn't even think of Azula. "When she comes back to the palace, lay a fat on her, in front of the warriors."

Sokka chuckled. "You're deliciously evil."

* * *

Azula found Qiu by himself and decided to start talking to him.

"Have you worked for Quyen for a long time?" she asked innocently.

"Since 99AG."

"I'm kind of surprised he's the boss. You come across as sharper."

"Why do you say that?"

"He talks a lot. You don't. I learned that the quietest people are usually thinking. They're getting information instead of giving it up."

"Quyen has his own talents."

"I'm sure he does, but you always have to remember what you're worth. Don't let anyone get away with paying you any less."

In only a few minutes, Azula planted a seed in Qiu's head that maybe he'd get a better deal without Quyen. She just needed him to ponder it.

Ozai was talking to Admiral Chan.

"Your son seems to have taken an interest in my daughter," Ozai pointed out.

"Oh he's a fool, but he knows not to take any indecent liberties."

"I'm not worried about that. I do think, however, if she accepted him this could be a good outcome for all of us."

"I doubt she'd let him have much say in anything," he chuckled. "She knows how to push him around."

"Oh I'm sure she does, but between you and me, I've been working on a way to get my bending back."

"Really?"

"I think it could be better if I took the throne and abdicated when Azula was more experienced."

"Do you think she'll step aside?"

"It's always a numbers game. You just have to think about who you'd rather grab the reigns now."

Admiral Chan was a blabbermouth. Now, everyone will be talking about Ozai possibly getting his bending back. The rumors will stir and once Ozai produces a flame, then the real games will begin.

Qiu was talking to the two lieutenants.

"My shoes are worn through again," One complained.

"My underwear has holes in it."

"Have you ever noticed how Quyen always seems to have new boots?"

"Yeah, he keeps them real shiny."

"Ever think we don't always get paid what we're worth?"

"Yeah, why does he have new shit all the time?"

"He'd be nothing without us!"

"Let's just make sure we get what's do to us later."

Quyen heard the rumors about Ozai getting his bending back and this was not in the game plan, but it might help things along. If he did, he might fight Azula for the crown and they might take each other out. They both can throw lightening. He might not even have to kill them himself.

He told his crew that there might be a change of plan. "I need you to be on your toes and ready for anything."

Sokka and Mai came up with a list of palace or government employees who had family connections to known members of the Defender's of Sozin. The warrior was stunned when he learned Piando's son was a member. He never knew Piando had a son. Maybe they weren't close. Maybe he joined out of anger or something.

They got back to the palace. Suki asked, "It took you all quite a while."

"There were a lot of documents," Sokka answered, unsure of why she cared.

"And it didn't help that Sokka kept telling dick jokes."

"You kept laughing at them."

"Lies!"

"Well, let's worry about those jokes later. Did you find any suspects?"

"We got a dozen people who have connections. They might not all be involved but some of them seem likely to me. I underlined the ones I find the most suspicious," Mai handed him the paper.

"I'll make sure to be on the look out and will adjust the rotations accordingly."

Sokka made his exit. Mai had planned on looking for Katara, but she didn't like the way Suki seemed so comfortable with Zuko, so she sat down. "Was your day productive?"

Actually it wasn't. He and Suki had been joking around, and time escaped him. "It could have been more productive."

"Then let's get you ready for your meeting."

Suki took her leave. She wondered if Sokka was telling dick jokes or letting his dick have fun.

Aang was handling his correspondence. He had his mail sent to the palace and would leave when emergencies came up. Katara was sorting his mail for him. She was a cute little secretary.

Ty Lee was working with the other girls. Suki had been MIA. She said she had a question for Zuko, but that was hours ago.

That evening, she asked Suki what happened to her today and she said that she and Zuko got distracted with security protocols, and she couldn't come back to work. Her aura was a yellow green. She was so lying. Ty Lee didn't challenge her boss however.

Instead, she went to see Mai who was huddled in the corner with a cup of whiskey in her hand laughing about something.

"I never realized how well you can hold your liquor," Mai told her.

"I can handle it fine, but our badger mole is always a mess, so I usually berate her instead of getting drunk. Getting bitchy is fun in its own right."

Mai howled with laughter. Zuko had never made her laugh like this.

Ty Lee wondered if they were meant to be. They seemed like a fairytale story before, but it was a pretty terrible fairy tale if Ty Lee squinted at it. Zuko dumped her instead of telling her the truth.

Mai almost died for him.

Zuko never looked back, accepting her sacrifice but not fighting for her.

He let her out and that was it. He never really had to fight for her. She was always just there.

The evil villain isn't even so evil as it turns out. Yes, it's a wretched fairy tale.

"What's going on Ty?"

"Was wondering to see where everyone was?"

"Your lying sucks," Mai told her. "And you know I'm good at reading you so why try?"

Ty Lee blushed. "I wanted to see if you were okay."

"Why wouldn't she be?" Katara questioned.

"Suki spent the whole day with Zuko until you came back. When I asked her what she was doing all day, she lied to me."

Mai grunted, but she didn't sound too surprised.

"You knew."

"I knew he got no work done today, and when I came back she was in his office."

"Zuko wouldn't cheat on you," Katara told Mai.

"There are different types of cheating," Ty Lee said. "Maybe he didn't lie down with Suki, but it he's giving her a piece of his heart that should be for his love then it's a different kind of affair. I think it's even worse to stay with someone when you love someone else, then it is to end it even if you end it poorly."

"So you think Sokka did the right thing by leaving?"

"Do you not?"

"I don't know. I always assumed they'd marry, but he hasn't really been happy in the last months of their relationship. I assumed it was work-related stress, but maybe his heart just wasn't in it at all. I don't know and I'd rather not get too entangled in my brother's love life. We're close, but we're not that close."

"I don't know any siblings who are closer," Mai told her.

"I don't mean emotionally. It just feels incestuous in a way if I get entangled in his love life, even if it is just decision-making. It's why I couldn't talk to him about Aang, plus he and Aang are practically brothers. It's all too close."

"What did you want to talk to your brother about?" Ty Lee questioned.

"I wanted to know how he knew Suki wasn't right for him. I wanted to know how you can distinguish being in love with someone and just loving him.

I know I love Aang. I'd do anything for him. He died for me and I brought him back, but I don't know if we have what it takes to last a lifetime," Katara confessed. "He fell for me, and I was startled. I hadn't seen him that way at all, but he had so much on his shoulders. The world just demanded everything he had and never stopped.

It seemed selfish not to at least try for him when he had given me so much, and so I did. We kept going and we never really hit any major hurdles, but that doesn't tell me that it's right."

Toph had been eavesdropping outside, mainly to mock Sugar Queen for being drunk, but she didn't think Katara would ever be so candid about her relationship with Aang. Toph loved him. She knew she loved him, but she also knew Katara would never let him go. Maybe she would. It sounds like she wants to, but she's scared that he won't be all right at the end of the day.

Toph decided to take her leave. They needed to talk, tomorrow.

Zuko could just kill Sokka. Everything was fine when he was with Suki, but now it was all terrible. He could feel the tension between Suki and Mai. He wondered if it would only get worse. He wasn't sure if they were fighting over Sokka or over him. He just knew there was a fight. There was a night in January when Mai didn't come back to bed until after Zuko fell asleep; he wondered if Sokka had kissed Mai, but then she rejected him or something.

He had been too afraid to ask her about it, but he needed to get this out in the open. He needed to know how she really felt about him. He needed to know if Suki was really interested or if she was just lonely after having her heart broken by that horny, meat-loving idiot!


	8. Switcheroo

March 103AG

The tension was mounting in the camp. Fathers were against sons as they debated whether the old or the new generation should rule the Fire Nation. The older men thought that Ozai should lead. They figured he'd appoint them over their sons and would be "more consistent."

The younger men thought Azula should have a turn. Ozai lost to the Avatar. Ozai couldn't bend. Azula was the prodigy and the genius. She took down Ba Sing Se at 14. She had killed the Avatar, even though the wretched spirits brought him back. Azula could be able to adapt better to a new era. She had fresh ideas where Ozai a relic of the past.

To make tensions even worse, Azula hinted that Qiu could have a role in her cabinet when she took over. "I must say, I'm impressed with all that you do."

Now, Qiu was seriously contemplating stabbing Quyen right in the back and taking the lieutenants with him. Why not? Quyen had never really amounted to anything. He was the figurehead with some cash, but it was Qiu's intelligence and their lieutenants' work that got the job done at the end of the day. If Azula offers a better price, why not give her the services?

As Quyen plotted to take control of the country, Azula and Ozai got ready to tear the group apart. They had a plan to take down the group in a very strategic blow. Azula just needed the help of a metalbender.

"She needs to check in with her brother," Ozai told Quyen.

"Will she be gone long?"

"No. She's just going to convince him she's going on another retreat, and we thought it would be good for her to make sure that nothing has changed with the security plans. They do swap them out at will."

"Well, we can always use more information."

Before Azula headed back to the palace, she gave her father 6 hours of firebending. "Convince them that you can beat me in an agni kai, and we'll start to make the arrangements when I get back."

Ozai was glad to have a flame in his hand again. It felt so good. "Certainly."

She made her way back carefully. She didn't want anyone to follow her and she wouldn't want them to think she was showing her brother where they hid.

She had only told her brother that she might come home. He hadn't told the others and she had no idea what had happened over the past two weeks.

Two weeks ago

Toph found a chance to be alone with Katara. "Suga, we need to chat."

Katara was surprised. Toph usually didn't want to talk to her one on one. "What's going on T?"

"It's about Twinkle Toes."

"Is something wrong with him?" she got worried.

"He ain't dying, chill. You know why I'm here."

"No I don't."

"I love him, but I don't know if we have what it takes."

"You were EAVESDROPPING!" Katara started going off about honesty and trust and how Toph shouldn't just wheedle her way into what is …

"Shut it SUGAR QUEEN!"

Katara frowned, but she stopped talking.

"I know that you hate it when I eavesdrop, but honestly, I thought you were just going to say something embarrassing because you were drunk. I didn't think you'd ever say you weren't in love with Aang."

"I didn't say that."

"No, but you know it. You wanted to talk to Snoozles to confirm it, but TT doesn't make your heart sing. He needed you then. The boy needed a 'mother figure,' but he's a man now. He's no longer that naïve 12 year old that would have gotten lost if you hadn't held his hand."

Katara knew that was true. He was taller, his voice deeper, and she knew that he had urges, even if he never attempted to enjoy her. "What are you saying Toph?"

"I'm saying let him go. You don't have to worry that he won't be able to go on. Let me have him and give yourself to someone you not only love but you also desire. You deserve both. We all do."

"On one condition," Katara said.

Toph frowned. What did she want?

"You let him take care of you sometimes. You're right. He's not a baby, but you're not invincible. In relationships, people take care of each other."

"Fine, Sugar Queen!"

* * *

This was one of the more amiable negotiations. It all went to hell with Zuko and Mai.

"I should have asked you this last month, but I kept chickening out," Zuko told Mai.

"Should have asked me what?"

"Is there something going on with you and Sokka?"

"WHAT?"

"He kissed a girl and won't tell anyone who. I was wondering if …"

"You think I cheated on you? With SOKKA? Are you stupid or crazy?"

"You didn't come back to the room until after I fell asleep, and then they were broken up and …"

"I was talking to Toph you jerk! She had a crush, and she feared it unrequited."

Oh! "Can we pretend this never happened?"

"NO! You don't trust me Zuko. You never have."

"Now wait a minute! What do you mean never?"

"Instead of telling me you thought your father was wrong, you broke up with me and ran away."

"But I…" wanted to protect you

"Instead of telling me your sister had PTSD and actually needed help, you just sent her to Ember Island and decided to tell me about it later."

"But I…" didn't want to burden you after what she had done to you.

"Instead of trusting me and knowing that I would never betray you, after I almost died for you I might add, you let this stew and fester in your mind for over a month. Were you that sure I'd say yes?"

"Mai I…"

"You don't love me Zuko, not the way I deserve. I shouldn't get part of your heart just to be excluded from everything else. Someday, I hope you find someone who you can love fully enough to trust. It won't ever be me. I can't believe it took me almost three years to see it."

Mai left him there. Zuko was stunned. How did one conversation about a kiss that never happened end his relationship?

He was sitting there, alone and confused when Sokka came by whistling. Zuko was pissed. "You dumb ass! Mai dumped me because of you."

"What?"

Zuko tried to punch him. Sokka evaded only for Zuko to throw fire and singe his shirt. Mad, Sokka started to fight back and they were brawling in the hallway.

The warriors heard the commotion and pulled Sokka off Zuko. "What were you thinking? Attacking the Fire Lord."

"Well he's the Jerk Lord today. He attacked me for no reason!"

Suki came out and started yelling at Sokka for being nothing but a brute.

"That's funny. You call me a brute when you full on punched me in the jaw!"

"You jerk!" They started arguing.

* * *

While they feuded, Katara broke up with Aang.

"Remember when you said that Sokka did the right thing, that you can't only give someone half your heart."

"I do," Aang told her.

"Ever since you said that, I was fearing if that was the case with us, if I loved you but not enough to truly make us work. I've never kissed anyone else, but I don't know if our kisses are enough for either of us anymore. I don't want to give you only half if you can find a whole with someone else."

Aang knew Katara's feelings had changed, and it wasn't surprising that it was his own wisdom that did him in.

"You've already made up your mind."

"I have, and I think you have too. I see the way you look at her and smile when she tries to throw something at you."

"Sifu?"

"Yes. We already talked about it and …"

"What?"

"She wants you, all of you and I want you to be happy if not with me, then with her. Let her love you."

They ended it with a goodbye hug and they went inside. Aang was going to look for Toph when he saw Zuko with a bloody nose, and Sokka chi blocked on the ground.

"What is going on here?"

Sokka told them. "Mai dumped Zuko and jerkbender over her blames me instead of himself so he attacked me. The warriors came in to finish the fight for him because he's never won a real fight without a girl to protect him and now, Suki's dropped me on the ground because I damaged her too fragile ego!"

Before Suki could retaliate, Katara made an ice blade out of the water in the air. "Harm a hair on my stupid brother's head, and I'll cut you up!"

Suki's eyes got wide.

Katara continued. "I don't know why Mai dumped Zuko, but it's between them. It has nothing to do with Sokka or anyone else. Zuko, let it go. Whatever anger issues or mommy issues or whatever issues you have, they aren't Sokka's fault. He has enough of his own issues, such that he doesn't have to absorb yours."

Katara pulled her brother off the ground and away from the warriors. "Now, I'm going to take him to his room and whatever this was, it is over!"

"Thanks Sis!" Sokka said when she dropped him in his bed.

"Now what did you do to cause such a mess?"

"Zuko asked Mai if I had kissed her, if that's why I dumped Suki. Well, I didn't kiss Mai and Mai was offended that Zuko thought she cheated and she dumped him."

"How is that your fault? He didn't trust Mai."

"DUH! That's what jerk face don't get. Sure, I was a jerk to Suki, but I didn't ruin his relationship with Mai. He did!"

Zuko had left, embarrassed by the whole situation. Mai had moved into her own bedroom. She would leave once the coup threat was over.

Present

Now, Azula was coming to the palace unaware that anything had changed since she left.

She needed Toph. She started looking for her when she heard Sokka arguing with Suki.

"I'm not telling you who she is!"

"I know she's Fire Nation!"

"What?"

"I heard you talking with Aang.

"You SPY ON ME?"

"Don't play Mr. Innocent. You know what you did!"

"Over two months ago! We broke up. GET OVER IT!"

"Get over what?" Ty Lee questioned. She and Mai just came up.

"It was you wasn't it?"

"What?" Ty Lee questioned.

"I thought you were my friend."

"I am your friend."

"Then why did you kiss Sokka?"

"I didn't kiss him!"

"Well it wasn't Mai, and what other Fire Nation girls do you see around here?"

"I don't know but …"

"It wasn't Ty Lee," Sokka told Suki.

"Well if it wasn't Mai and it wasn't Ty Lee, then who was …"

"Have you all seen Toph?" Azula questioned

"Try Aang's room," Sokka told her.

She left, leaving them to argue.

Suki didn't see what Mai and Ty Lee clearly saw. Sokka cheated with Azula and Suki just let her get away.

"She was a girl from the peace corps that I met at a fundraiser. We became friends and it just happened!"

Mai and Ty Lee were impressed with the lie, even more so that Suki actually bought it.

* * *

Azula knocked on Aang's door. He had been making out with Toph and had been about to take off her top.

"Go away," Toph called.

"But I came to see you."

Toph grunted. She opened the door. "What is it Zappy?"

"I need your help," she told her. "I am going to have an agni kai for the right to challenge Zuko for the throne and I need you to use your metalbending to rig the ring."

"You're going to cheat."

"I'm going to knock out this rebel group while they think they're the audience."

"Bad ass!"

Azula had to verbally describe her idea because drawing a picture would do her no good. She could tell that Aang and Toph had been into something before she got there, but their affair or whatever this was would have to wait.

After plotting with Toph, Azula reported to her brother where she told him that she had an idea to level the resistance before it could really do anything. "Ozai and I will attack them a week before their planned coup. If we fail, then you have that much time to get yourself ready to fight."

"Is there anything I can do?"

"Keep up appearances." She looked around. "Your room looks different."

"Mai moved out."

"Ah, did everyone break up while I was gone?"

"Yes."

* * *

At dinner, the others realized that Azula was back in the palace. "My stay is a short one."

Suki hissed something like thank the spirits.

Sokka tried not to look at Azula; oh he could just take her right now.

Mai wanted to hear about this situation. "So Sokka, tell us about this girl from the Peace Corps who you love."

Azula looked pissed, but then she pretended not to know anything.

Ty Lee caught Azula's reaction. Oh Mai, that was mean.

"Well, we met a few years ago and we didn't get a long at all, but one night, under a full moon, we realized we were more alike than we were different and it just kind of happened."

Does he use full moons to ravish girls? I will kick his ass into…

"But tell me, is she pretty?"

"Why do you want to know?" Zuko asked.

"I just figured she'd make an appearance eventually, and I wanted to know more about her. Why, are you afraid I'll kiss her?"

"Oh really, you're going to give me that!"

"Yes you bonehead!"

The two started bickering.

"Why can't you let it go?" Zuko questioned. "Katara handled her breakup just fine."

"Katara had the balls to say it when it wasn't working. She didn't drive me away so you could go back to lusting after fan girl!"

Sokka turned. "Wait a minute? You tried to beat me up for ruining your relationship when you were just chasing Suki anyway. You're an asshole!"

They all started yelling about who was a jerk and over what. Toph and Aang disappeared together.

Ty Lee tried to keep the peace. When it started to get physical, she started chi blocking everyone. "ENOUGH!"

Mai, Zuko, Sokka and Suki all had limp arms. Azula was impressed.

"Now let's just clear the air. Mai and Zuko, it didn't work out. News flash, your relationship sucked and it always has!"

Azula thought she was the only one who though that.

"Sokka and Suki, I thought you two had more potential, but it didn't work out. Suki, you need to let it go and stop trying to chase down this 'other woman.'

Zuko and Suki, I have no idea if you two can work, but both of you need to grow up!

Y'all ruined my appetite!"

Ty Lee stormed off.

"Now that was a dinner show," Azula said. "Bravo!" She went to her room.

When Sokka could feel his arm, he went to find her.

He knocked on the door and when she opened it, he pushed her inside, shut it and pushed her on the bed, greedily claiming her mouth, as he got ready to ravish her once more. She kneed him in the stomach, forcing him off her.

"Shouldn't you be looking for your Peace Corps girlfriend," Azula spat.

"I made her up to protect you."

Of course, he was telling their story only watered down.

"Now let me ravish you!"

* * *

Katara came back to the dining room when the coast was clear. "I am still hungry," she admitted.

"Are you and your brother bottomless pits?"

"He's worse, but I do like my food."

The two girls started talking as Katara got a hot plate of food.

"Why is Zuko such an idiot?"

"Maybe men are just stupid."

"Not maybe, definitely."

The girls laughed.

"I feel free now that Aang is with Toph. I don't have to overwhelm myself with trying to make sure he has everything he needs."

"Zuko was needy too. He had no idea how to do anything when he became Fire Lord and the most knowledgeable person about running the country was in an asylum, so I pretty much had to hold his hand the whole way."

"Maybe they both needed mothers," Katara said, only slightly bitterly.

"Well, I'm done. The next time I see a boy with mommy issues, I'm running for the hills!"

"Maybe I should just give up on men," Katara wondered.

"Do you really think you could love a woman that way?"

"Why not? She would probably know what to do down there better than Aang did."

"Haha!"

"He tried, but he was well, he needed a lot of coaching. Toph ought to thank me for training him."

"Well, I don't know how well I trained Zuko. He still goes on about his mother after sex."

"Oh spirits."

After dinner, they went to have drinks. Mai started to ramble. "You know you're very good looking. Your family has a good bloodline."

"Thanks."

"I didn't really get Ty Lee's crush on Sokka at first. He seemed too, I'm not sure what the word is, boyish maybe, but he's starting to figure out how to use his big boy voice."

Katara laughed.

"And you are quite a woman."

Before Katara could respond, Mai kissed her. The girl had always been aggressive. If she wanted it, she lunged for it.

Katara, again, was kissed unexpectedly. This time, however, it tasted really good. She pulled Mai on top of her and they started making out in the lounge.

Zuko and Suki had their own conversation.

"I screwed up with Mai," Zuko said.

"What's done is done?"

"Not our breakup but how it ended. I knew I was getting feelings for you, but instead of acting on them, I tried to tell myself that Mai wanted Sokka to justify breaking up with her. Instead, she thought I didn't trust her after all this time and got really upset. I thought we could do a trade or something, as stupid as that sounds, but instead I just made her mad and started a stupid fight with my best friend.

I should have just said I wanted someone else. Even Sokka did that. I'm worse than the jerk. I'm the double jerk."

Suki shook her head. "You might have been less than direct, but you didn't cheat on her. You didn't keep her on hold while you explored your feelings with someone else."

"Does it make much difference? If I was cheating with my heart, what consolation is it that I didn't use my lips?"

Suki kissed him. "It makes a lot of difference."

After some more kissing, Suki wanted dessert and Zuko wanted to fess up to Mai before she found them together. When they got to the lounge however, they saw a shocking sight.

Mai was aggressively chewing on Katara's nipple. The girls were shirtless and unabashed like they didn't care that it was an open lounge.

Suki promptly dragged Zuko out of the room. Is it bad that this was the hottest thing he had ever seen Mai do? If only he had known, they could have had a threesome.

Instead, they had their dessert in bed.

* * *

Meanwhile, Ozai revealed to Colonel Mongke and Admiral Chan that his bending was back.

"How?"

"Azula learned how to energybend for me."

"Which means …"

"I can take my rightful place on the throne."

"Won't she see that as a betrayal?" Mongke questioned.

"She'll understand. She's very bright, but she lacks a certain sophistication."

Ozai spent the time Azula was gone, getting supporters to join his ranks. Just how many would choose the Phoenix King over the Fire Princess?

Azula woke up with Sokka in her bed, his arms around her. She never thought she'd be so enraptured with a man that she would just let him take her as he willed, but his will was her will too and the two months she had been gone, all she wanted was him beside her.

Ty Lee snuck into her room. "So when did you join the Peace Corps?"

"Oh shut up!"

Ty Lee laughed. "It was obvious he loved you. Mai was just baiting you."

"Well, she's a brat!"

"Your brother is gonna die!" Ty Lee made off.

Azula nestled on Sokka's shoulder.

Ty Lee was on her way to train when she noticed Mai leaving Katara's bedroom.

"You look like hell!"

"I had a good night."

"Like drinking with a buddy good or rutting like komodo rhinos good."

"Can't it be both?"

Ty Lee blushed in surprise, as Mai made her way to a bath.

* * *

Zuko realized he had to actually get work done. He had spent his evening with Suki when he should have been working on the budget. While he worked, Suki was with the warriors.

"Our leader came back," one of them teased.

"So, how's the Fire Lord?" another went on.

"Who's bigger?"

Suki turned red. She wasn't answering their nosy questions.

Sokka watched Azula train from her window. He never realized how beautiful firebending was until just now. He could watch her train everyday.

He realized, however, that he best get out of her room before her servants see him. He put on his clothes and snuck back into his room.

No one noticed him; everyone was too busy doing his own thing. Sokka took a bath. He saw that he had bite marks and scratches everywhere. Azula got him good.

Speaking of bite marks, Katara had a hickey forming on her chest. One that was visible during dinner.

"You could at least cover up your love bites," Suki told her.

"What?"

"It's bad enough you and Mai were going at it on the couch for the world to see."

"Sorry you're sex life is so miserable you had to watch mine," Mai retorted.

"Wait a minute," Aang said before Suki could respond. "You mean to tell me I missed out on my chance for a threesome?"

Toph smacked him. "You won't be getting anything with that mouth."

Zuko felt left out too.

Sokka kept looking back and forth between his sister and Mai.

"What's wrong with you?" Katara questioned.

"I'm just intrigued. When did?" His finger kept moving back and forth between them.

"Yesterday," Katara told him.

"I see, and Mai, what are your intentions with my sister?"

"Oh no. You don't get to play overprotective big brother," Katara told him.

"Oh yes I do. Dad's not here and someone has to protect your chastity."

"Protect my chastity? What are you talking about?"

"Just because she doesn't have a dick, doesn't mean she can't defile you. They make all kinds of toys for that purpose."

Zuko dropped his fork "What the heck is wrong with you?"

Azula laughed uncontrollably. "This is too good." She realized she had set this all in motion. People had been trapped in their post-war pairings but once Sokka left Suki, they all started trading around. "It's like you all switched girlfriends."

"I got traded," Aang told them nonchalantly.

"Yeah where's my remuneration?" Katara asked Toph.

"I saved you a headache. You oughta pay me Sugar."

"The only way your head aches from him is if you suck him too long, and your jaw hurts!"

Zuko's jaw dropped, and his eyes got wide.

Sokka hoped that wasn't from personal experience.

"I didn't think you had it in you Suga. Mai, you bringing out the bad in her, and I like it!"

"I guess Mai can't make your jaw hurt," Azula retorted.

Everyone stared at her.

"What? I assume she doesn't have a dong, but if she did, I bet Zuko would be bottom!"

"That's what I said," Sokka told her, "sort of."

"Why were you imagining Mai with a dick?" Suki questioned.

"I assume she would have bought it at the store."

"This is one messed up family, but I love it!" Ty Lee told them.

"If you got with Azula," Aang told her, "it would be all in the family."

Zuko was not amused.

Ty Lee blushed. "I think we both prefer the opposite sex, but she does have a cute butt."

"No talking about my sister's butt!" Zuko insisted.

Mai decided to blatantly ignore him. "It is nice and firm from all her training."

Katara folded her arms.

"Don't worry. I only bite yours."

"You are all disgusting," Suki told them.

"Maybe you're just bashful when it comes to sex," Azula told her. "Did Sokka never ravish you?"

"No discussing them at the dinner table," Zuko scolded.

"What? She has a past. So do you? What are you afraid he's bigger?"

Sokka turned tomato-carrot red.

"Size isn't everything," Suki told her.

"So Zuko's tiny?"

"I'm not tiny! Tell her Mai."

"I'm not telling Azula anything about your package, or lack of it."

Zuko slammed his fist on the table.

Everyone looked to Suki. "I haven't seen it!"

"So you don't know who's bigger," Toph inquired.

"Unless, Sokka's a goliath," Ty Lee looked at Azula.

Even Katara thought this was bizarre. "If he is, I'd rather not know about it."

"Ditto, I mean not that you have a ding dong but …"

"A ding dong?" Mai laughed. "And I thought you were growing up."

"Oh I'll full grown baby!"

"No hitting my on my girlfriend," Katara punched his arm.

"I'd say you can hit on my girlfriend, but I'm not sure if you want to do that."

* * *

The ridiculousness only got worse when they had post dinner drinks in the lounge.

Aang wanted a play by play of last night.

Katara told him no way, but Toph said, "oh come on Suga, I want to know how it was with knife girl. Did she use the handle to get you going?"

Sokka almost spit out his drink. "You almost made me commit a party foul Toph!"

"Sorry, Snoozles!"

"I'm only going to say that she aims to please, and she was right on target." Katara threw her drink back. It was so freeing being with Mai. She could handle her own stuff and when they wanted each other, they didn't have to hold back. Katara had been afraid of corrupting Aang. He is a monk, but Mai was not afraid to get down and dirty.

Azula was sitting with Ty Lee. "I think we could have had a fun romp or too. You are very flexible."

Ty Lee laughed. "I'm sure you would have put my body to good use."

"EW!" Zuko complained.

"Oh shut up, it's just sex!"

"What do you know about sex?" Suki hissed.

"More than you," was all Azula would say.

"When did you?" Zuko questioned.

"None of your concern," Azula told him.

Ty Lee suggested spin the bottle.

Zuko and Suki said no, but the others said yes.

"What about your girlfriend?" Zuko questioned.

"We love each other. It would take more than a mere kiss to drive a wedge between us."

"And if she kissed another?"

"If it were a game, I wouldn't care. If she wanted him, however, it would be war."

Toph put out an empty bottle of whiskey. "No cheating," she told Twinkle Toes.

"Why would I cheat?"

"To make sure I don't kiss anyone else."

"If I want to do that," he picked her up bridal style. "I'd just take you to my room."

"I love it when you manhandle me."

He put her back down.

"I didn't think he had it in him," Katara admitted.

"Would you have stayed if he had?" Mai questioned.

"No. I'd rather you manhandle me."

"Good!"

Ty Lee took the first spin and got Toph. She crawled over to her and kissed her sweetly.

All of the guys looked on eagerly. The girls rolled their eyes.

"You taste like candy," Toph told her afterwards.

Next to Ty Lee was Mai. When she spun, she got Azula, which under the circumstances was a little awkward.

"Did you rig the game?" Toph asked Aang.

He shook his head. "The spirits just love seeing girls kiss too."

Mai expected Azula to take the lead. The princess straddled her and gave her a kiss. Katara was about to smack Azula when the firebender got up.

"Did Zuko ever kiss you like that?"

He growled.

Sokka snickered.

"I don't compare siblings," she said with a smirk.

"Next time, keep your hands where I can see them," Katara hissed at Azula.

"I didn't touch her anywhere (that she didn't want me too)."

Aang was next to Mai. He spun and got Suki.

Toph decided to tease them. "Stop slobbering on my boyfriend!"

"I don't slobber."

She kind of does, Sokka thought to himself.

Toph spun and got Zuko. "Come here Sparky."

When he kissed her, she raked her nails along his chest, sending chills down his spine.

"He's pretty good," she commented.

Sokka spun and got Azula. She would have taken the lead, but he got there first, pulling her to him and kissing her passionately. She smacked him.

"What were you trying to do? Suffocate me with your ostrich-horse sized tongue."

Zuko got Katara. Suki got Mai which made Azula chuckle. By the time the game was over, they were all quite trashed and ready for bed.

Azula was undressing when Sokka came in her room and locked the door behind her. "You said I was suffocating you."

"I didn't want Suki to see how much I liked kissing you."

"I don't care what she sees. When you're back at the palace, I want everyone to know how much I love you."

This was the first time he said those three words to her.

She pulled him into her bed, and they went under the sheets.

Ty Lee was alone. The other warriors were too, but it wasn't the same. All of her good friends had paired off.

How did Azula and Sokka fall for each other? She never would have seen that one coming?

The acrobat would have to be patient. Love would be there for her, eventually.


	9. The Resolution

Azula took Toph to a clearing near where the Defenders of Sozin hid out.

With her earthbending prowess, Toph made an arena with stands and a metal bar for the spectators to lean on. What wasn't evident, however, was that the bar in front was connected to poles that ran under the standing area. With one bolt of lightening the whole area would be electrified.

"How does it look Zappy?"

"Perfect." It was more than fitting for the historic battle, Ozai v. Azula, father v. daughter, Phoenix King vs. Princess of Fire.

"Try not to zap yourself!"

"I think I can handle it."

They went back to the palace, and Azula got ready to return to the base camp.

* * *

Before she could leave, however, there was a knock on her door.

It was Mai.

"What's going on?"

"Thought I'd say my farewell or whatever before you venture into the unknown."

"Aw, is this your way of saying you miss me?"

"I guess if you're going to get all sappy on me and shit!"

"Nah, you can save your sappy side for your girlfriend."

"It's mostly been laughter, drinking and sex."

"That sounds too much like fun for you anyway."

"Fuck you!"

"Nope. You tried out Zuzu, which means I'm off the table. I don't share, especially not with him."

Mai rolled her eyes. "Does that mean I can't try my luck with Sokka?"

"Pretty sure it does, plus Katara would kill you before I returned anyway."

"I'd tell her it was his fault."

"Cold."

"Like a dagger."

"So how did you decide you wanted Katara and a snow empire instead of being Fire Lady?"

"I don't know if those were the same decision. I got sick of Zuko's crap and then everything else just came together. Katara basically gave Aang away to Toph. We were drinking and talking shit about people, like we usually do and I kissed her."

"Out of all the times we drank and made fun of people, you never kissed me."

"Jealous?"

"Nah. You two deserve each other. You did your time raising your war hero boyfriends and now it's time to move on."

Mai flipped her off.

"Don't tell me you've never complained to her about your ex- boyfriend's mommy issues."

"Not telling you about it."

"Well, Toph won't mother Aang, so he'll have to man up."

"I'm pretty sure she punches him for foreplay."

"I've inflicted a few battle wounds during sex."

"You didn't burn him did you?"

"Not on purpose, but he might have made me breathe fire once or twice."

"Another reason not to date a firebender not that Zuko was ever so passionate."

"Who knows, maybe Katara will throw a waterbending fit and freeze you because the sex was too good."

"As funny as that would be, I would rather not be frozen."

Azula had the last of her stuff. "Time for me to rocket."

"Your man candy isn't going to see you off."

"He is, outside."

"Daring."

"Well, I can be risky."

Mai suddenly realized something. "Was that Sokka's underwear in that bush?"

"Maybe."

"You went out it outside, for the world to see."

"When passion overtakes you…"

Mai couldn't say she was much better. She ravished Katara in her ex boyfriend's lounge, on his couch.

"Take care of yourself."

"I will."

Sokka pulled Azula into her arms and kissed her before she took off. He wanted the last thought she had when she left to be of him, because she'd be on his mind every second that she was gone.

* * *

Ozai was waiting for Azula when she got closer to the camp. "Are you ready for a screaming match?"

"Yes, but let me show you something first."

She took him to the ring that Toph had built for them. "What do you think?"

Ozai chuckled. "It's better than I expected based of that drawing you did."

"Well, I didn't have a desk okay."

"Maybe you just can't draw."

"Ha ha."

Azula gave him some more fire, and then they went back to the camp.

"How was your trip?" Quyen questioned.

"Relaxing. I did enjoy my bed and I have some new plans. They decided to change the rotation a bit."

"Really, did he say why?"

"My guess is because he's fucking his bodyguard."

"What happened to his girlfriend, the warden's niece?"

"Apparently, Zuko has too many mommy issues, and she got sick of hearing him talk her, so she dumped him."

Qiu gasped. "Get out!"

"Nope. She wouldn't tell me about it, but well other people in the palace did."

The others wanted to hear all about the latest gossip in the palace, it wasn't until the evening when Ozai wanted to have a chat with his daughter.

They went away from the group, but everyone could hear them shouting.

"What DO YOU MEAN you want to be Fire Lord again?"

"I don't think you're ready!"

"I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU STABBED ME IN THE BACK LIKE THIS. YOU WOULDN'T EVEN BE ABLE TO BEND WITHOUT ME!"

"I am grateful, but …"

"Grateful my ass! I gave you your bending back. I can take it away!"

He "slapped her" hard across the face. "YOU WILL DO NO SUCH THING YOU INSOLATE LITTLE BRAT!"

Azula threw lightening "at him," and it struck a tree. People gasped when they heard the cracking noise.

"I challenge you to an Agni Kai, for the right to face Zuko!"

"Accepted!"

Ozai mashed some cherry on her face, so she would look like she got hit.

Everyone was clamoring once the two came back.

Ozai made the announcement. "Since my daughter and I can't agree on who is more suitable for the throne, we will settle it the week before the invasion in an agni kai. Since they are traditionally public events, we will have an arena created in the forest."

"How?" Quyen questioned.

"Earthbending," Azula told him. "It will hardly be a professional arena, but I'm not going to just do this in an empty clearing."

Chan didn't expect Ozai and Azula to turn on each other like that. "Are you sure you're ready to fight him?"

She nodded. "My father is out of practice and I had to do a lot of research to learn how to give Ozai his bending back. I know a lot that he does not."

The next day, Qiu wanted a word with the Princess. "Are you sure a public fight is best?"

"Why wouldn't it be?"

"If you two are pitted against each other, it might make the bloodline look weaker."

"I know there are three people vying for the crown."

"What?"

"Me, my father and Quyen. Let me put it this way, he has failed to deceive me or my father."

"I see."

"And we would both rather see the other rule than him, so we will fight for supremacy and if Quyen tries to strike down the winner, he will find himself the loser, a dead loser."

"And why are you telling me this?"

"Because you have a choice. You can either side with the family that has controlled this nation for over 100 years despite at least a dozen attempts to dethrone us or you can follow the guy who has no feats to his name who won't even pay you enough to buy new shoes."

To keep up the pretense, Ozai and Azula trained separately. It would be bizarre to see them training together if they were at each other's throats. This gave the princess some alone time each morning where she could run. Trail running was more fun than on flat roads. The hills make you more tired, but once you get used to them, you seem to fly on by when you're on flat ground.

Ozai was having trouble with his flame. He usually used his anger to fuel his bending and he had plenty of it, but it wasn't working as well as it usually would. He was still good, but he wasn't nearly as good as he once had been and it was alarming to say the least. How would he help Azula take down these scoundrels if he couldn't fight as well as his pathetic son at this point?

There was really only one person for him to ask. He managed to find Azula coming back from a run.

"Can we chat?"

"What's going on Dad?"

"My flame, it's not as good as it should be."

She had just powered him up a couple of hours ago. It should be fine.

"Show me?"

He made a flame but when he did a move, it lacked the powerful impact that it once had.

"You're fighting your flame too much."

"What?"

"How do you fuel your bending?"

"Anger."

"That's your problem. I don't use my anger anymore, so when you try to use my flame, it doesn't work as well. You have to find something else."

"Like what?"

"Something that makes you happy or excited."

"Because I have had such an awesome last few years."

"You could take pleasure in Zuko's misfortune. He got dumped and his ex-girlfriend is dating his friend, so he'll have to see them together all the time."

Ozai snorted. "I never paid as much attention to who slept with whom."

"But that's like the most fun part about the palace. They're all a bunch of hoes. None of the couples that were there when I left were together when I came back two months later."

Ozai knew he'd have to find his own source. "I'll work on the source thing."

"It wasn't easy for me to change, but when I did, I found firebending to be more fun, not that destruction isn't fun, but sometimes, it feels good to feel like you're creating instead."

Azula found it comforting that Ozai couldn't control his fire as well with his anger. If he wanted to exercise the mastery he was used to having, then he would have to change.

* * *

Back at the palace, everyone except Sokka and Ty Lee was coupled up. When it came to dealing with the exes, Aang and Katara probably did the best. There were no hard feelings between them or between Toph and Katara. In fact, they got along better now since Toph no longer coveted Katara's man and Katara was having too much fun with Mai to try and mother Toph.

On the other side, however, there was still bad blood between Suki and Mai. Sokka and Zuko had called a truce, which very well may be broken when Zuko learns that Sokka is with his sister, but for now is good. Zuko realized it was foolish to think Sokka caused Mai to dump him, and it wasn't much different to kiss another girl than to dream about kissing another girl.

He had never kissed Suki while he was with Mai, but he wanted to, and although Zuko would always want to hurt anyone who caused Suki pain, he couldn't forget that Sokka is a good guy; he's just a bonehead.

Suki said she was over it, but she didn't seem to be. She seemed irate when anyone else was hanging out with Sokka. She really wanted to know who this no good slut was so she could smack her face. She resented that Sokka hid her under the guise of honor and for all she knows, Sokka's been fucking her behind Suki's back for months. He dumped her, said it was just a kiss, and is waiting a few months before he unveils her after everyone forgets about what he did to her.

Mai was never mad at him for leaving Suki. If it wasn't working, then he should have left. She knows now that she should have left Zuko earlier. She waited until she was too mad to continue instead of just leaving when she got the initial warning signs.

Katara could hardly stay mad at her brother, even if she did like the idea of him and Suki at one point. He was her lovable bonehead and when the warriors wanted to beat him up, there was no question that she would side with him. Only Katara beats him up or so she thinks.

Toph and Aang were too busy in their own world to pay much attention to the mess. Aang figured Suki would get over it in time and Toph decided she was bored of it all and stopped caring. They couple spent their time tumbling in the dirt and tumbling in the sheets.

He hadn't claimed Toph yet, but they were both having fun pleasing each other. Toph clearly liked his work more than Katara had. She screams so loud, he's amazed the guards don't come and when they go at it, he fears she'll break the bed.

Toph hasn't told Aang this, but she feels quite vulnerable when they fool around. She can't exactly see and sometimes, she has no idea what's about to happen. If people weren't always coming and going, she'd just do him outside like the gardener does it apparently.

* * *

Zuko hoped his sister was able to get out of this okay. He thought she was crazy for going into the dragon's den with Ozai, but she seemed convinced that she could handle him. Azula didn't seem to have the same healthy dose of fear that anyone else would have had when dealing with him.

Zuko didn't realize, however, that Azula had been motivated by fear most of her life. Fear that the resistance would kill her family. Fear that the Avatar would destroy her homeland like he did those ships during the siege. It was her fear that drove her to be vicious. She'd rather kill than be killed and her anger from her past gave her plenty to fuel her bending.

When Sokka first kissed her, Azula knew what it was like to be completely unafraid, like nothing bad could happen as long as he was there. After that night, he had been ashamed of stealing her innocence, but he had given her so much more in return. He had brought her dormant soul back to life. Their spirits intertwined and she was twice as strong with in in her heart. That was why she wasn't afraid of Ozai, not because he couldn't be dangerous or manipulative but because she had the inner strength to fight him.

Azula stared at the night sky, thinking of the stars that she had watched overhead as they became one in the grass. She was almost there. She was almost ready for her life to truly begin.

Sokka watched the same stars. Ty Lee came outside and sat next to him.

"When I look up in the sky," he said, "I imagine she's looking at the same stars, that we're watching for the other somehow."

"When did you become such a romantic?"

"I guess that night. It was like I became someone else."

"I'd be a liar if I said I wasn't jealous."

"Of me or of her?"

"I guess both. I want to fall as deep as you have and I also want someone to fall for me like that."

"I have no doubt that you will inspire someone to love you madly, Ty Lee."

* * *

On the morning of the agni kai, Azula woke up and got her armor on. Chan came to wish her luck.

"I suggest you stand in the back," she told Chan.

"Any reason for that?"

"Well, we both can throw lightening, so you would be wise to stay out of the line of fire."

He took her advice.

The small arena was full. Quyen was off to the side in some makeshift throne as if he were a king. He would stupidly make himself an easy target.

Ozai and Azula had loosely scripted the fight, but they were mostly free styling it.

When Quyen gave the signal, they started.

Ozai opened with a fire blast to the chest.

Azula quickly evaded. His bending still wasn't up to par. He didn't know how to find a new source.

"Struggling with your bending? Are you too old?"

Ozai knew she was acting, but it still made him mad. He threw a fire whip at her and she reacted by sending a blast at his feet. They danced around each other, cat and mouse and until suddenly, Ozai sent a bolt of lightening right at his daughter. She caught it, redirecting it across her body before throwing it at the beam that the crowd had been leaning on.

If people realized what was going to happen, they reacted too slowly to move and a zap of lightening dispersed through the metal, making most of the audience drop like flies.

Quyen watched in horror as his army was pretty much wiped out.

"WHAT THE FUCK!"

"Here's the thing, Quyen. I actually don't want to kill my brother for the throne. Even if I did, I wouldn't trust a no good lemur monkey who planned on killing me and taking it from me. I'm not stupid. I know you had your eyes on my family's crown from the start, but true power, the divine right to rule, is something you're born with, and you weren't born with jack!"

The few standing onlookers watched Azula charged Quyen. She set fire to his throne while he was on it and then kicked the crap out of him.

His employees ran scared and Azula and Ozai took out anyone who wouldn't back down. When Colonel Mongke woke up, he tried to strike Azula from behind but Ozai expelled a flame, so big it nearly engulfed the man.

He screamed as he fell to the ground. Azula wasn't sure if he would live. The avatar should be on his way.

"Dad let's go."

"Where are we going?"

"To have father daughter day until your bending goes away again." She would not return him like this.

Zuko and his friends had been waiting to see how Azula handled this. When they heard Mongke's screams, Zuko ran forward, desperate to make sure his sister was okay. "She's gone?"

Most of the army was still unconscious. Toph quickly metalbended them while Aang was on Appa, looking around for signs of any rogue militiamen. It was easy to spot Qiu and the lieutenants. Appa caught up with them and Aang trapped them in rock.

* * *

After a couple of hours, they took down everyone in the camp, but there was still no sign of Azula or Ozai.

"Where could they have gone?" Katara questioned.

"Did we try Azula's tent? Maybe she left a message," Aang suggested.

It was easy for Zuko to determine which one was hers. There had only been one girl in the group.

On her bag, was a letter that said To Zuko.

"Dear Zuko,

I'm sure you're wondering why I'm not at the camp. If my plan worked, then you caught your thugs and Ozai and I are missing.

I know we said we wouldn't keep (as many) secrets from each other, but I kept some from you to make sure that this could work. First, I didn't tell you that Ozai asked me to give him back his bending. I wasn't sure if it was even possible, so I did a lot of research and when I found out that it was possible, I still wasn't sure if I should.

If I didn't give him his bending back, he could easily get killed in this coup, but if I gave it back, he could try to seek revenge and kill good guys. I didn't know if I could trust him to ever change.

I found a lion turtle who taught me how to give firebending temporarily. It would only last a few hours at a time. He said as long as my heart was pure, then I could energybend as I willed. I tested it out and I could make it last only three hours.

I wasn't sure how long this battle would take, so I gave him bending for six hours. If I'm gone, then it means that the battle was shorter than I thought it might be, and I am keeping Ozai away from you until his bending is gone again.

I can keep him out of trouble, but I don't need a rematch of you and Ozai, Aang and Ozai, or anything else he might try to pull.

I never taught him how to energybend or even where I had learned it, so hopefully he doesn't figure it out. I couldn't find it in any book, and I think that's a good thing.

Anyway, I'll bring him back to the palace and you can arrange his transport back to jail. I'll see you this evening.

Azula

"She's fine," Zuko said as he finished the letter. "She took Ozai out for a last day of freedom or whatever." He didn't disclose what Azula had done with energybending. He decided this should be a royal secret.

"She would give him mercy," Suki snorted.

"Given how he raised her," Aang commented, "I think that's a good thing," that she was capable of giving mercy, and that she could forgive him for all he had done to her.

"She's supposed to bring him to the palace tonight. Let's wrap this up."

* * *

While they carted their crooks to the hospital or jail, Chan asked if he could ride home with them.

"Where did you come from?" Mai questioned.

"Well, Azula told me to watch out for lightening, so I didn't get struck when she struck all those rebels at once and when she started fighting Quyen and everyone else started fleeing, I just went back to the camp. I figured you were coming anyway, and I saw no reason to get beat up for nothing."

"So what was your endgame?" Suki questioned.

"Not to die. I have to admit that I didn't really care who got the throne. I just wanted to get away from my crazy father. Ozai said I probably wouldn't die if I listened to him and I didn't."

Zuko shook his head. "Come on Chan." What a buffoon!

Azula took Ozai to Capital City where they ate at his favorite restaurant.

"The owner is expecting us," Azula said as they took a side entrance and went to a private room. It was an all you can eat steakhouse, and Azula told them to keep the whiskey coming.

"I thought I'd never eat here again."

"I figured you'd want to come back if you could."

They brought rib eye, filet mignon, porterhouse, skirt steak, and other cuts as well as roasted vegetables and rice to add some balance to the meal.

"How did you get a new source?" she asked her father.

"I didn't have one when we started fighting, obviously, but when Mongke tried to hit you from behind, I couldn't let you get hurt again. I regret nothing more than not being there to save you when you got kidnapped." He blamed himself for his family falling apart. It all happened that day.

"I finally realized that my love for you was stronger than all of the rage I've been keeping for so long. It still feels weird, like I'm someone else in a way." Even Ozai could change, a little. "But it's probably a good thing that I'm full of food and drink right now because if I wasn't, I'd be looking to kick that bald weenie's ass!"

Azula rolled her eyes. Baby steps!

Back at the palace, Zuko swiftly detained anyone who was related to anyone in the Defenders of Sozin.

They all acted innocent, but when Zuko mentioned that Quyen and 40 militia members had been arrested, some of them gave very nervous signs.

It was easy to see who was innocent and who wasn't.

It was finally all over. It had been almost a year of trying to deal with these people and it was now done.

"You know what this means right," Mai said.

"That I can finally get a job," Sokka laughed.

"Any interest Azula had in the throne she gave up. No one would support a coup to put her in charge when she just leveled the last coup dedicated to her. I think it's the biggest endorsement you're ever going to get."

Zuko hadn't thought of it that way before. Yes, she was helping him, but he didn't realize what her actions were actually saying. "For a sister who tried to kill me, she's not that bad."

"What?" Suki questioned.

Ty Lee just laughed.

Azula didn't have the same tolerance as Ozai did. Her firebending helped some, but she was like half his weight.

He ended up giving her a piggyback ride into the palace.

He nonchalantly walked through the door and delivered Azula to Zuko's meeting room. "Azula, wake up."

"What?"

"I have to go back to jail now."

"Oh."

She got off his back and hugged him goodbye before he left.

"Can I at least bring my whiskey?" Ozai questioned.

"No," Zuko told him.

"Well fine." Ozai took out what was left of his bottle and chugged it all.

Sokka was impressed by how much he could drink. That was like five shots!

He burped. There was no fire.

"How charming father."

He ruffled the hair on the top of her head. "Take care of yourself." He went up to Sokka and punched his stomach.

"What was that for?"

"For taking liberties with my daughter. You better make an honest woman of her." He turned to Azula. "You talk a lot when you're trashed. Some of it, I wish I didn't know."

Everyone who didn't know Sokka was screwing Azula was stunned.

* * *

Suki finally realized. "YOU CHEATED ON ME WITH AZULA!" She turned to the princess. "You no good hussy, you're going to get it!" Azula was too drunk to really react.

She charged the half-awake firebender, only to have Ozai hoist her in the air and say, "no one calls my little girl out of her name. Whatever issue you have, it's with that boneheaded savage." He quickly put her down before Zuko had the guards kill him. Zuko was actually still in shock from the earlier revelation.

Ozai was cuffed and taken away.

Zuko was the most stunned. He started hyperventilating, pointing back and forth and finally screamed, "YOU'RE FUCKING MY SISTER!"

Sokka ran out the room, looking for somewhere to hide.

"YOU CHEATED ON ME WITH AZULA!" She gave chase too!

Katara was stunned. "WHAT?"

"Yeah, your brother is in love with Azula, and I thought he couldn't get any dumber before," Mai said dryly.

"Snoozles and Zappy? Well, she can stop him from sleeping all day. It kind of makes sense."

The only people missing from this scene were Chan and Ty Lee. He took a liking to her once again.

"You really are gorgeous," he told her as they shared dinner together.

She blushed. "I'm glad you're not in jail."

"Me too."

He didn't know how to fight, but he'd fight anyone who got in his way to keep Ty Lee. He had a fresh start, and he was determined to use it wisely.

His father, however, woke up in a hospital, cuffed to the bed.

"What happened?"

"You were struck by lightening and then arrested for treason."

Well shit! "Where's my son?"

"Not here."

Is he already in jail? I don't have a spare heir, not that I will be able to keep my estate. This really sucks.

Mongke didn't die from his injuries, but he would be hospitalized for the next month. He never knew pain like this. He should have realized Ozai wouldn't let anything happen to his little brat. He just didn't think the old fucker had it in him.

Sokka hid in Zuko's room, figuring Zuko wouldn't look for him there. His plan actually worked, until Suki came to bed and then she tried to hit him. He ran out with her chasing him, which alerted Zuko to where the scoundrel was.

Ty Lee and Chan laughed as Zuko and Suki chased Sokka outside.


	10. The Epilogue

Epilogue: Four Months Later

Suki finally forgave Sokka for his transgression. She realized it was hard to move forward with Zuko while holding onto pain from her past, and if all of the other exes could get along, then she should try to get along with him.

After a few punches, Zuko decided he would allow Sokka to court his sister, but on no uncertain terms, if he ever cheated on her, Zuko would kick his ass, repeatedly.

Mai's parents were not happy to see their daughter was in a lesbian relationship with a savage; what would the neighbors think? Mai told her parents that they could go fuck themselves. Unfortunately, Tom Tom overheard and now fuck is his favorite word.

Ty Lee and Chan didn't worry about their families as Chan's father was in jail, and Ty Lee's family didn't care what she did anymore.

Aang was still avoiding going back to Gaoling, so he wouldn't have to have dinner with Toph's parents. She told him he needed to stop being a pussy.

Azula managed to get her father some perks for his effort in staving off the coup, mainly better food and a cell with more sunlight. There wasn't too much else she could get him at the prison, but every now and then, she smuggled a mini bottle of whiskey to him.

* * *

Now, she was preparing for the big test. She and Mai were on their way to meet Sokka and Katara's family.

"This will be interesting," Mai said, as they got ready to go to the port.

"At least you didn't try to kill him the last item you saw him," Azula said about Hakoda.

"Well, if I get off to a bad start, I'll just say I saved him from you."

"I'll just say you can't give him grandchildren."

"You bitch!" She wasn't sure what they would do. They could adopt or use a surrogate. Obviously Tom Tom would be too young for some time, and they could use Sokka, but Azula might object. No, she would demand something ridiculous in return.

"You ho!"

The trip to the tribe was an interesting one. Sokka and Azula enjoyed themselves quite a bit in their bedroom, but it wasn't nearly as soundproof as her bedroom in the palace. Mai and Katara learned more about their sex life than they ever needed or wanted to know.

Of course, Katara didn't get mad. She instead got even. She and Mai had sex, very loudly, while Sokka had been trying to eat breakfast. "She's gonna make me puke!"

Not willing to admit defeat, he and Azula decided to have even kinkier sex the next day. She allowed him to tie her up and punish her for various offences.

Mai decided to raise the absurdity level by introducing various toys knowing that Azula would not have any of her own.

She didn't, but she did know how to steal tomato carrots from the food supply and use them as sex toys, having even wilder sex.

By the time they got to the tribe, they were exhausted from engaging in endless, competitive, debauchery.

"It hurts to sit down," Azula complained.

"I'm sorry," Sokka told her.

"I told you to do it."

"I can't believe you let him do you in the ass," Mai told her.

"Twice," Azula countered, "and I'm paying for it now."

Katara drew the line there. "Fine, you two are the freakiest, happy!"

"Actually, that was a fun competition," Azula said. "I can't imagine Zuko and Suki being any fun."

"He would have jumped off the boat," Mai laughed. "He's such a fucking prude."

"We should tell him all about this when we get back," Azula said. "He'll probably faint!"

* * *

They got off the boat. Gran Gran, Pakku and Hakoda came out all ready to see their children and their significant others. Unexpectedly however, Aang and Suki were not with them.

"Where's Aang?" Hakoda asked.

"We broke up in February."

"What?"

"He's with Toph now."

"I'll kill him."

"I dumped him Dad, and they're still my friends."

He was disappointed. He thought his daughter would become the mother of the Air Nation.

"And where's Suki?" Gran Gran questioned.

"Um, we broke up in January," Sokka told her. "I have a new girlfriend now."

Suddenly, the three realized that two new people were in place of the people they had been expecting.

Pakku recognized Mai but not the other girl. "You're dating Mai?"

Sokka chuckled. "No. Katara is dating Mai."

"WHAT?" Hakoda yelled.

Gran Gran smacked him. "You scared me with that yell."

"I'm dating Azula."

Gran Gran was about to ask Azula who when she remembered that Azula was Zuko's sister. She almost killed the Avatar and her own brother amongst various other people. "WHAT?"

Pakku jumped. "You scared me with that yell!"

"We need to talk," Hakoda hissed.

"To whom are you speaking?" Katara asked.

He had meant both of them but "Sokka, you first."

"Whatever you have to say, you can say it now. I'm not leaving her no matter what you say anyway." Defiant!

Hakoda did not like being ignored. "I highly doubt you want her to hear what I have to say."

Sokka reluctantly went into his father's igloo.

"You're on deck," he told Katara before Pakku and Gran Gran followed him.

"Well, that could have gone worse," Azula said.

"How?" Mai asked her.

"Oh isn't that just a saying? It was pretty bad!"

Mai rolled her eyes. Idiot!

Katara did not like being outside like a child in time out. "Let's go to my igloo until they return. I refuse to stand here like I'm on punishment."

Mai took her stuff, but Azula was leaving hers there.

"Sokka lives next door, so you may as well bring your bag."

"He usually carries my stuff," Azula pouted as she grabbed her own bag.

* * *

"Have you lost your mind?" Hakoda hissed. "She almost killed you, me, her own brother, and the avatar."

"We're all still here," Sokka retorted.

"This isn't funny. My wife is dead because of what her family did."

"That's absurd and you know it. Azula was nine when Mom died. How was she responsible? She would be no more responsible than Zuko or Iroh. Iroh even commanded a lot of the murderous people that destroyed families during the war. Those villages that got burned down, the ones that orphaned the Freedom Fighters, served under Iroh. Is he responsible for every orphan?"

Pakku was quick to defend his friend. "Iroh changed. He helped end the war."

"Azula changed too, and unlike him, she didn't kill dozens of people before she did it. She was 14 when the war ended. How can you possibly hold her more accountable than the people who served who were more than thrice her age?"

"How do you know this isn't some type of trick?" Kanna questioned.

"Trick for what. To marry me so she can become the future chief's wife and steal all our whale fat?"

"This isn't a joke. If you marry her, than her bloodline will eventually rule our tribe. What would people say if the chief was a firebender?"

"Maybe the same thing they would say if the next Fire Lord is an earthbender. Zuko is with Suki now. It's a possibility, but I'd like to think that we're creating a world where people will be judged on their character and not what nation they were born into. It's that kind of racial prejudice that caused the war in the first place and it's that kind of bigotry that killed my mother.

Do you even know why the raids started again?"

"Enlighten me," Hakoda said harshly.

So Sokka did. He told his father all about Azula's kidnapping, the men who had done it, who Sokka and Hakoda both had known, how she had to kill them to survive and how her family reacted.

"I don't care what you think about her now but no child deserves that they did to her. Azulon wanted revenge and my mother paid for it. If we don't stop the hate, then we haven't learned anything. We're no better than Azulon or anyone else who decided he was avenging someone, so his actions were okay.

You can't fight darkness with more darkness. You can only fight it with light and I refuse to hate anyone for what happened in the past. I refuse to have anything to do with the kind of thinking that killed my mom."

Azula started looking for her chocolate. "Do you have any pots?"

"Yes," Katara turned to her. "We do cook food here."

"That doesn't mean you had your kitchen stuff here. It could have been wherever you used to live with Captain Baldy."

"Aang usually came here, since he had been rebuilding the temples."

"Oh. Does that mean you two did it in your bed?"

"No, not that it's your business!"

"Just wondering. I brought a new mattress."

"What?" Mai looked at her.

"I don't want to have sleep in a bed he shared with Suki."

Mai and Katara looked at each other and started cracking up. "You're joking," Mai said to her.

"No, Sokka is going to have to get it off the boat."

"You brought a mattress?" Katara questioned. "Is his bed even big enough for it? The beds here are small."

"Then he'll have to build a bigger one!"

But the beds are small because the igloos are small.

Mai shook her head. "Don't try to reason with her."

* * *

Sokka came to get his sister. "You're next."

"How did it go?"

"He's not happy, but at least Mai can't firebend."

Katara rolled her eyes. She went to meet her doom. She got to her father's house, and he was catatonic.

"What's wrong with him?"

"He didn't fare so well with your brother," Gran Gran told her. "Why don't you tell us about Mai?"

This conversation was an easier one with Hakoda out of it.

"Well, she had been dating Zuko. I had been with Aang, but none of us were really happy. I felt like Aang and I were just settling. It's not bad so why change it, but I wanted more. Mai and I became friends, often lamenting about our sorry love lives.

When Toph told me she liked Aang, I realized I didn't mind giving him away, so I did. Mai dumped Zuko soon afterwards. They had gotten into some argument over Sokka. It was really stupid, but Mai realized they weren't working at all, so she left Zuko.

Anyway, we were hanging out again and Mai kissed me. I haven't looked back, and we've been really happy together."

"Have you met her family?" Pakku asked.

"Yeah, they did not approve, but she told them off and we left."

"And have you thought about children?"

"There's adoption or surrogacy, but I'm a few years way from deciding on that. We just want to work on us at the moment."

They seemed mostly okay with it, even if Pakku kept looking at Katara's boots and not her face.

When Hakoda saw those gold eyes staring back at him, he was furious. How dare she come here? What would possess his son to date her? He wanted her gone on no uncertain terms, but after hearing Sokka defend her, he was lost.

No matter who was right or who was wrong, he chose her, and if Hakoda didn't find some way to deal with it, he was going to lose his son. He couldn't do that. Losing Kya was bad enough. He wouldn't let his son walk out of his life and way from his tribe. This is his birthright. This is where he belongs!

He forgot all about his daughter's lesbianism, or her experiential phase or whatever the fuck this is.

It wasn't until Katara left that he realized he missed the whole conversation.

Kanna looked at her son. "I haven't seen you this discombobulated in a long time."

"How could he?"

It's all he could say. Kanna rubbed his back. She knew.

Sokka's new mattress sort of fit on his bed. He put some boxes under the overflow of the mattress, so it wouldn't be so floppy. "It is comfortable," Sokka said as he lied down on his new bed."

"What did you want to do?"

"Why don't we just rest here?" he was exhausted after arguing with his father and he could use Azula's warm body pressed up to him right now.

Azula pressed her lips to his and closed her eyes.

"So on a scale of 1-10, how much does the Chief hate me?"

"Well he didn't say anything. He just stared at the wall. I think he argued with Sokka too much to remember you were here."

"So Azula was off the charts."

"Yeah."

"She always was an overachiever."

Katara snorted. "He'll come around."

"Are you sure?"

She nodded. "He loves us, and I know he wants Sokka to be happy like Mom made him happy, and I think Azula's the only one who can do that for him."

"And what about us?"

"He'll babble about Aang some more, ask invasive questions about grandchildren and then he'll get over himself. I'm not promising the road will be easy, but I think we'll make it just fine."

* * *

"Do you think they're okay?" Zuko feared Azula's visiting the tribe would not be well received, by Sokka's family or anyone else there.

"I'm sure that no harm came to them."

"I'm not exactly worried about violence."

"I know, but you can't protect her from everything. She's a big girl and I think she proved she can protect herself."

"I know, but I'm still her brother."

"Yeah, I know."

Zuko decided to let Azula out of her probation contract for her 18th birthday. She had proven to his satisfaction that she had sufficiently changed and was ready to be a free person. He was, however, concerned by the shenanigans she and Sokka might engage in to celebrate. Maybe he should tell her on Ember Island, so she's out of the palace.

**THE END**


End file.
